The Bishop of Worcester, Dr. John Inge will be blessing a new exhibition trailer for the Farm Crisis Network at this year’s Three Counties Show. The trailer will publicise the work of the charity among farmers in Worcestershire to help ensure that those needing help know where and how to access it.

The Farm Crisis Network provides pastoral and practical support to farming people during periods of anxiety, stress and problems relating to both the farm household and the farm business. The new trailer was bought using funding from Advantage West Midlands and the Three Counties Agricultural Society. Chair of the Worcestershire branch, the Revd Robert Barlow, will attend the Bishop’s blessing, along with National Co-ordinator, the Revd Sarah Brown.

Robert said: “The Worcestershire Farm Crisis Network has only been running for the past couple of years and not all farmers are aware of our existence or the work that we do. Farming is undergoing a difficult time at the moment and it’s important that we ensure that whatever help and advice we can give is easily accessible and people know how to find us. Bishop John’s blessing on the trailer will help us get the promotion of our work off to the best possible start.”

As Agricultural Chaplain for the Diocese of Worcester, Robert is also running a Church Tent at the Three Counties Show, which will offer refreshments and also training for clergy and Lay Ministers from throughout the diocese. “We hope that the tent will be an oasis of calm among the hurly-burly of the show,” he said: “It’s an opportunity to come and take some time out, as well as for clergy who are new to rural parishes to find out more about the farming community.”

For more information on the Farm Crisis Network visit: http://www.farmcrisisnetwork.org.uk/

Issued by Rachel Edwards, Press Officer for the Diocese of Worcester and the Bishop of Worcester. Email: redwards@cofe-worcester.org.uk. Tel: 07852 302516

ENDS.

The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.