The Royal Highland Education Trust, or RHET as we all know it, has, for almost 20 years, been delivering education in partnership with the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) – and a good job they do too.

But like most businesses that have been in an ever progressing environment, things change and the board, and RHET team have had a detailed look at the services that RHET offer and are introducing some changes.

The overall ethos for RHET is that they offer free educational activities and experiences for children, across Scotland, to help educate them about food,farming and the working countryside, with the emphasis on the free.

As RHET has grown in stature and popularity, they have received more requests than ever from schools for their services of classroom talks, farm events and the opportunity for children to attend a farm to see the real thing in action.

The impact of RHET services showcases the rural environment as a diverse and engaging learning environment. Who better to enthuse consumers than those rearing and growing Scottish produce on their land.

This level of service requires a steady and reliable source of funds and George Lawrie, RHET’s chairman is exploring different avenues of support to keep RHET progressing and being adequately funded.

George said: “We need to get the whole industry engaged in the services of RHET. Each year we currently offer an estimated £1.4m worth of volunteers’ time, but we need more financial support in order to maintain our USP of being free.

“Engaging with Scotland’s young people through countryside education is rewarding, exciting, ever evolving and essential.”

Careers

RHET is reaching around 70,000 school children a year, dealing mostly with primary aged children, but is seeing far more enquiries from senior schools for career talks.

The opportunities within the rural economy for careers is vast, nutritionists, agronomists, vet nurses, many of these jobs people don’t associate as being within a rural remit but they are, and they are well paid jobs.

George added: “There are so many diverse and rewarding jobs in the farming industry open to pupils from every background and for all capabilities. We are trying to promote this as being the industry to be in. By the time you are 22-23 you could be driving a combine in Australia with the right training, it’s an excellent way to see the world.”

This year, the RHASS Presidential Initiative launched JobFarm, which offers work experience for young people to give them that all important taster for the sector.

RHET is engaging with partners to really lift the profile of working in the industry and will cover some of the career opportunities at the ‘Ask the farmer’ session in the RHET Discovery Centre at the Royal Highland Show.

George said: “We can’t always meet every request for farm visits, especially in the last term of the year as we don’t have enough local farms and we find we are unable to facilitate every classroom talk as we don’t have enough volunteers willing to go into classes and speak to the children. As well as money to pay for our co-ordinators to pull all the events and visits together, we need volunteers coming forward too.

“We remove the small things that put farmers off opening their farms to school children.” These can be easily overcome and George mentioned a farmer who was worried about a public road that ran through the middle of his farm.

“A RHET co-ordinator quickly resolved the situation and worked out a plan and the road was no longer an issue for the kids. If there is any doubt, talk to RHET and they will visit your farm and talk to you about possibilities.”

George, who, as anyone who knows him will confirm, has the gift of the gab, he added: “I do classroom talks and it is so rewarding to engage with the pupils for 40 minutes. They are mesmerised by farms and animals and I love doing them.”

Funding

At the moment RHET’s core funding is covered by RHASS, but it still has to raise the other £200,000 annually from other avenues. RHET is well supported through trusts each year, eg, NFU Mutual and the Scottish Government, which funds food and farming days. However, grants from trusts can be time critical so the search for funding is ongoing.

RHET has launched new schemes to try to boost funding:

The RHET Individual Supporter Scheme: which allows individuals to donate. George said: “Some farmers would really like to support us, but maybe their farm doesn’t suit a farm visit, or maybe they don’t have the confidence to do a classroom talk, but would still like to do something, then this is the perfect opportunity for them to offer a donation. The money collected in each region, stays in that region.

“They can donate £25, £50 or £100 each year and we will be promoting this scheme at the RHET Discovery Centre this year at The Highland Show.”

RHET launched the Corporate Supporters Scheme earlier this year, where any business or organisation can to donate £1000 each year.

“We are targeting both companies who have supported RHET in the past and those who can see the value in the extensive work we are involved in. We started the campaign by contacting businesses in our network, and we are delighted to have five companies sign up already, Border Biscuits, Muir Homes, Scottish Agronomy, James Hutton Foundation and Albert Bartlett Potatoes, which is very encouraging.”

Future plans

Next year is RHET’s 20-year anniversary and they have a few major events planned to help celebrate the service and to raise more funds.

George and a dedicated team will be pulling together a variety of events and activities to raise both funds and the profile of the work achieved by RHET. Early plans include a tractor tour by George across Scotland, auctioning of unique experiences and items, including a metal Highland Cow created and donated by Kevin Paxton, from ArtFe.

RHET is rightly proud of their patron, The Princess Royal, and the hope is that they can invite Princess Anne to some of the major events that are being scheduled for next year.

As for this year’s Royal Highland Show, there are more than 220 schools booked already to visit and there are still some places available (closing date is this Monday, June 18).

The Discovery Centre is a must see for any kids visiting the show. The centre is open 9am-5pm each day of the show.

The message is clear, RHET needs more to provide more.

If you or your business can help with a donation, contact RHET for more details: email: rhetinfo@rhass.org.uk, Tel: 0131 335 6227 or see ww.rhet.org.uk

The big raffle

This year, on the run up to the Highland Show, RHET has a raffle that is not to be missed. It is £2 a ticket and they can be bought from any project co-ordinator or board member up to the Highland Show, then tickets can be bought at the show from the stand. The prizes are impressive. It will be drawn at 3pm on the Sunday of the show. Good luck!

The prize line-up is:

1. A luxury lodge sleeping six for a long weekend at Drimsynie Holiday Village, Lochgoilhead.

2. Lunch for two plus champagne, at the esteemed Peat Inn, Cupar.

3. Afternoon tea for six at Loch Leven Larder in a pod.

4. Food hamper worth £75 from Craigies Deli and Cafe.

5. Individual Scots thistle sculpture from Sean Cockburn Blacksmith.

6. Tickets for two for a music event held at Ingliston Centre.

7. Day pass for either the Blairdrummond Safari. Park or the Highland Wildlife Centre at Comrie.

8. Family ticket for SeaCreatures, Ingliston.

9. £50 voucher from Food Express.

10. Bottle of Ogilvie Vodka.

11. Bottle of Glenmorangie whisky.

12. Six bottles of red wine.