A visit from our Patron.
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On 26th October we were privileged to host a visit to Crag House Farm by Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex, our patron.

As we prepared for the occasion and busy days became busier, we all came together to pray each morning. Peter reminded us all that each day, the King of kings walks the paths of Crag House Farm. He walks beside us and hears each prayer. What a wonderful blessing to know that He is with us each day and what a privilege to share His love with people from all walks of life!

Our aims for this visit were to enable The Countess to see the three pieces of equipment which her Trust had kindly bought for us, (a band saw, a vacuum packer for packing meat and a new LPG cooker, plus a grill); also to enable her to meet some of those in our care, along with staff members and some volunteers. The most important aspect was that The Countess was able to meet and talk with those being supported by CFL.

The Countess had also offered to host an evening event to which corporate supporters of CFL could be invited, so quite a number of the staff had to plan for a very quick turn around as soon as The Countess left the farm, hurrying along to the evening venue to prepare for that.

The day finally came for the Royal visit

Those in CFL’s care were looking very smart and were all very exited. The Royal parties arrived in the yard and were greeted by Esther and Peter. From there the visit took them into reception where Tim introduced his team, with Michael looking very proud to be one of the first on the farm to say hello to The Countess. We then showed our latest short film, currently showing on our website. Her Royal Highness watched this intently and was obviously deeply moved by its message. She was then shown the Queen’s Award that we received in 2005.
From here the party moved on to the woodwork team who are currently working on our new potting shed by the polytunnels. As she approached the site, Mike introduced his team to her and had the opportunity to talk about this latest project.

The next port of call was the polytunnels. The Countess was introduced to Debbie who in turn introduced a whole line of ladies and staff, along with some of our volunteers and Jake, one of our TFJs. It was quite funny to see the change in character of some of the girls. Christine turned from being one of the loudest on the farm to being the most shy. We wish we could have a royal visit everyday!

The Countess then met the Vegetable Project team. Michael introduced his very excited group of men. Matthew was jumping with delight to be able to meet our patron and Trevor was even more proud when Her Royal Highness said that she remembered him from her first visit.

Moving on, The Countess was introduced to two of our very faithful volunteers, Brian and John, and then continued on to the meat room where she was greeted by Jonathan. He introduced her to his team and Jason was delighted to show her the vacuum packer which her Trust had enabled us to purchase. The demonstration of the machine seemed to be much appreciated. Jason was clearly proud when at this point The Countess spoke to him about his marathon running for CFL last year. Steve Dobson, a volunteer from Dunbia Meats was introduced, with Jonathan describing the generous time he had given in training and support for the meat project.

The Countess then proceeded up the yard and met the finance team. The Floating Support team had brought some of the people they support up to the farm and Steve introduced The Countess to his team and the young people. She met Stephania, Lee, Sarah, who presented a hand tied posy, and Lindsey, who were all thrilled to have met our Patron. They will certainly all have great memories of the day.

Our Equestrian Project was next on the tour, with Judith, our newest member of staff, introducing her team. Kelly, Joseph and Matt, one of our TFJs, were all introduced, along with our blacksmith who was shoeing Henry, our Shire. Her Royal Highness informed us that she loves horses.

The party then moved on to the refectory, formerly know as the resource centre, where she met Michael and Collette, the volunteer founders of our literacy and numeracy project. They were able to show some of the work that our men and women have done, including the life story that Gary wrote.

Flo and Neil, one of our trustees, were introduced and then The Countess was guided to our Catering Academy team. Mark, our chef, introduced her to some of the folk from the first session of the catering academy and also some of the new candidates. The oven and grill that The Wessex Youth Trust had funded were on show and then a light buffet was served by the CFL Catering Academy, enabling The Countess to spend time speaking with Peter and Esther about how many people so sadly fall through the net in our present society.

The rest of the teams all met outside the centre to wave Her Royal Highness off. Whilst waiting, the rain came down and everyone stood huddled under umbrellas. It wasn’t too long before The Countess came out and the rain had thankfully stopped.

The Countess had kindly agreed to have a final photo with the whole group. Everyone gave a great cheer as she came out and it was wonderful to see her looking so relaxed with our group as she put her arms around Michael and Sarah for the photograph.

The visit was a great success and all involved really did enjoy the day. Let us pray that God will bless and touch the hearts of all who came to the farm that day.