Sheep sale to raise funds in memory of Will Pedley

A North of England Mule shearling will be auctioned at Rugby Farmers Mart this week to raise funds for suicide prevention charity Papyrus.

The ewe will be sold on Friday 28 August, exactly one year after the death of 15-year-old Will Pedley, who had shown her as a lamb.

See also: Suicide prevention campaign targets farming communities

The charity auction forms part of Rugby Farmers Mart’s annual NEMSA Mule show and sale at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

The show starts at 10am, followed by the sale at 11.30am.

Will, from Barbon, Cumbria, was the son of prominent Mule breeders Richard and Jess Pedley, who have been involved with the Rugby event for about a decade.

Market manager and auctioneer Thomas Wrench said the family was well known among farmers attending the sale, many of whom had previously bought sheep from the Pedleys.

“This obviously shook the local farmers in Hawes and the farmers from down here also who know them from the ewe lamb sales,” he said.

Following Will’s death, the family offered the last ewe lamb he had shown for auction at the Hawes NEMSA sale last autumn.

Repeated sales and donations from northern and southern farmers raised about £8,400 for Papyrus, with the ewe ultimately bought by a southern consortium of buyers, customers of Rugby Farmers Mart.

She has since produced twin lambs and will now return to the sale ring to raise further funds.

Community support

Richard and Jess described Will as a “typical cheeky chap who could talk to anyone” and a promising young stockman who had become his father’s right-hand man.

They said support from the farming community had helped the family through the past year.

“It’s times like this that the farming community comes together and shows that it is one big extended family and helps to hold us together, and keep us going even when we feel like giving up,” they said.

The family has since supported Papyrus, which works to prevent suicide among young people.

“Our family doesn’t want any other families to go through the nightmare that we are going through,” the Pedleys said.

“If the awareness and support that Papyrus provides saves just one life then that is a step in the right direction.”