WEST Devon charity Farms for City Children will celebrate its 30th anniversary in style thanks to a grant from the Awards for All Lottery Scheme. The charity, set up by children?s writer Michael Morpurgo, welcomed the first school to Nethercott Farm at Iddesleigh back in 1976. Now plans are in full swing to mark 30 years of providing opportunities for youngsters from deprived urban areas to experience life on a working farm. Farms for City Children have succeeded in securing more than £4,000 from the Awards For All Scheme to hold a weekend with ?hands-on? farming and traditional craft activities at Nethercott Farm next May. Kate Wilson, from Farms for City Children said: ?We are absolutely delighted. We wanted to do something really significant for our 30th birthday so it is wonderful.? She said the farm had held open days in the past, but the idea this time would be to spread events such as farm trails and craft activities across the weekend and give young and old alike the chance to ?get stuck in on the farm?. The grant will also pay for commissioning acclaimed photographer Chris Chapman to take a series of pictures of life on the farm during the changing seasons. Kate said the photographer would visit the farm on several occasions to take images to be collected into an exhibition to be called ?Nethercott: A celebration of 30 years.? The exhibition will be displayed in Okehampton next year and will contrast the newer photographs with a selection taken at the farm by the late James Ravilious in the 1970s. The charity has grown since its launch in 1976 and now has two further farms in Pembrokeshire and Gloucester. The original farm at Iddesleigh can cater for around 40 children and teachers, who stay for a week and work alongside farmers and animals to see what life in the countryside is like.
