Dick tackles fund-raising
Dick tackles fund-raising
RETIRED farmer R W (Dick) Patrick has taken on the challenge of raising £75,000 a year for three years to get the RSIN established.
Dick sees it as a way of putting something back into the industry which, he says, gave him so much pleasure in his working life. He was formerly managing director of Blankney Estates, a 6070ha (15,000-acre) farming company in Lincs, and his former employer is backing his efforts by providing office accommodation and services.
RSIN is a registered charity with an august group of patrons: The Duchess of Devonshire, the Duke of Westminster, Baroness Trumpton, Lord Plumb and Sir David Naish.
The Royal Agricultural Society of England gave £30,000 to help launch it, the Arthur Rank Centre provides office accommodation and secretarial services at nominal cost, and the NFU has supplied its director. The EU has given a grant of about £20,000 and an application is being made to the National Lottery.
These contributions have got the work under way and will sustain it for the first year. Dick aims to ensure its future. He is chairman of the trustees as well as the fund raiser and, like so many of those who help people overcome rural stress, is a voluntary worker.
He is taking the direct approach, writing to companies and organisations within the agricultural industry to elicit support for a cause that is serving the farming industry.
He can be contacted c/o The Estate Office, Blankney, Lincoln LN4 3AZ.
Dick Patrick aims to raise £75,000 a year for three years to set up RSIN.