Local hero helps Countryside Alliance

Countryside Alliance celebrates its tenth anniversary

Local Hero, angler Sakina Haleem

Sakina, born Corina Smith, is one of ten heroes selected from across Britain to tell their story and represent rural life as it is now. Sakina is a Senior Peer coach for Get Hooked on Fishing, an Alliance-backed initiative which inspires youngsters through angling. Sakina’s father, Dave Smith, set up the Midshires scheme, and Sakina is heavily involved in promoting angling as an inclusive, enjoyable and socially beneficial pastime. She has always had a huge commitment to give something back to angling and has proved to be a great asset to ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’ – for this, she has been chosen as a Rural Hero. In 2004 Sakina converted to Islam on marrying a Muslim, and her influence has seen Get Hooked broadening its reach into the Muslim community.

The ten “Rural Heroes” have been picked because their stories are inspiring, whether in farming, country sports or running a rural business or service. Together, they paint an honest and truthful picture of rural Britain since the Alliance was formed in 1997.

Clare Rowson, Countryside Alliance Regional Director for the Midlands, commented: “Some of our heroes stories are sad; some are positive, but there remains a feeling that rural life has survived Blair’s decade despite the Government, not because of it. There is a feeling that rural issues were never high on the agenda in “Cool Britannia”, and that to a very urban Government the countryside was “another country” to be used rather than lived in.

“In the end, we think that one thing shines through all of these stories – hope. However the last ten years have treated them they are all looking forward to the next decade, and Sakina is a great example of someone who is giving something back and making a real difference.”

The Countryside Alliance – 10 Rural Heroes

The following ten “Rural Heroes” have not been picked because their experiences are unusual; instead, they represent the experience of many, many others in similar roles over the last ten years, whether in farming, country sports or running a rural business or service. Together, they paint an honest and truthful picture of rural Britain since the Alliance was formed in 1997. The following is an overview, but more information on each hero is available.

1.Rural entrepreneur – Mike Forbes, Kingennie, By Dundee
2.10 year old – Mikey Aungier, Tandridge, Surrey
3.Huntsman – Curtis Thompson, Huntsman of the Avon Vale Hunt, Wilts
4.Postmistress – Win Morgan from Llangadog, Carmarthenshire
5.Local Food – Sally Stringer from Beckford, Gloucs/ Worcs border
6.Rural GP – Paul Davenport, Market Bosworth, Leics
7.Livestock farmer – Chris Salisbury, Bickenhall, Taunton
8.Arable farmer – Graham Downing, Chediston, Suffolk
9.Gamekeeper – Stuart Riddell, Hexham, Durham
10.Fishing – Sakina Haleem, Stoke on Trent

1.Rural entrepreneur – Mike Forbes from Kingennie, By Dundee, Angus
Mike’s Hero nomination came from his wife and read: “Hi, my name is Gail Forbes and I’d like to nominate my husband Mike for an award. All of his life he has worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the family farm, constantly re-investing to ensure long-term profitability of the business. Wheat, barley, potatoes, strawberries, pigs, a fishery (he fished for Scotland), 10 self catering lodges, a Restaurant, bar, wedding and corporate venue, and thistle maze have all kept him busy over the years. This summer we’ll open a 9-hole golf course and Cairngorms putting green, as well as a corporate lodge which sleeps 20, and more lodges sleeping 6.

“On the family front, we’ve been married for 20 years (I’m not from farming, my father was a builder) have 3 children, Cammie 17, Libby 15 and Alistair 8. This summer Cammie relapsed the leukaemia he had at 7 and 10, and had a bone marrow transplant on 9th November, his brother being the donor. I am e-mailing from Yorkhill hospital in Glasgow, as Cammie has been in for 3 weeks with a virus.( I sleep by his bed.) Hopefully he will get home next week.

“I couldn’t resist nominating my husband, as he has had the determination and resolve to push forward all of the businesses over the past 20 years, and it certainly has not been easy or for the faint-hearted. At the same time, he’s been a fantastic father and husband. Even if he’s not your hero, he is certainly mine! Yours, Gail Forbes”

www.forbesofkingennie.com
Omachie Farm, Kingennie, By Dundee, Angus DD5 3RE

2.10 year old – Mikey Aungier, Tandridge, Surrey, was born on 7th July 1997, three days before the Hyde Park Rally. He has lived his entire life in Blair’s Britain.
Mikey’s Hero nomination from his step-mother reads: “Mikey has always been a very active country boy. His fascination with farming, the countryside and especially tractors was apparent at a very early age. He would watch the tractors and combines for hours asking technical questions loving every minute from the age of 3 and decided very early on he wanted to work in the countryside when he grows up.

“Mikey started going beating when he was five years old after a long time pestering to be taken along. It is with the strong encouragement from shoot owner Stuart Walker and his 81-year-old father Peter (who is still a VERY active keeper) that the younger generations take a healthy interest in their surroundings. Mikey is a very lively addition to the beating team, well liked and is quite a character. He is there every week, whatever the weather and despite the freezing temperatures, biting winds or rain he never complains. He loves every second. When the pheasants poults arrive in July he is assistant keeper, leaping out of bed at dawn every day to help feed and look after the two pens with his dad. He is very knowledgeable and I will never forget him telling me that the baby pheasants I was admiring one January morning on the way to school were in fact partridges!

“His love of the country side has got him into trouble when he would sit and watch the tractors out of the window at school and arguing with the teacher that they had not seen a combine – it was a forage harvester!

“Mikey is very proud to be a member of the Countryside Alliance and carries his membership card and game licence with pride. He took part in the 2002 march in London along with of all of our family. It was a long walk for the children but we all wanted to make a difference.

“Overall I think Mikey is a rural hero because of his love, enthusiasm and most importantly his dedication to the countryside and the country way of life, something he feels very strongly about. Mikey is very aware that it is children like himself who hold the future of the countryside in their hands and that of future generations.”

Mikey’s family also have problems with affordable housing, which is one of the central campaigning planks of the Alliance.

3.Huntsman – Curtis Thompson, is the only black Kennel Huntsman in UK. Employed by the Avon Vale in Wilts
Curtis is living proof that the tradition divide between urban and rural life is not as concrete as many believe. Curtis is from inner city Bristol. He was inspired to pursue his chosen career through a life-long love of horses, a passion he shared with his mother, who had a pit pony. Curtis was regularly brought into contact with both animals, and learned to trust and bond with them, bringing him out of his urban life. He took a bus every evening after school with his mother to ride and care for a variety of ponies through the years, and was first brought into contact with the countryside when his family moved to Shoscombe, near Radstock when he was twelve. When he left school he decided that he wanted to work within the horse industry and completed the relevant Youth Training Scheme course.

For twelve years Curtis worked for the Hursley Hambledon hunt at their kennels in Hampshire. Throughout that time the future of hunting was being debated in Parliament and the media and with it the future of thousands of people whose jobs, like Curtis’, relied on hunting. His future looked even more uncertain, when, in 2005, in the wake of the Hunting Act being passed, he lost his job. But Curtis, like hunting, is nothing but resilient and he took a job with the Avon Vale Hunt as a countryman, which included taking responsibility for their eagle owl Scarlet and completing a course on working with hunting owls. Last year the position of kennel huntsman became available, and Curtis is now responsible for the hounds and kennels.

4.Postmistress – Win Morgan from Llangadog, Carmarthenshire
Win and her husband Richard are the hub of this deprived Welsh ex-mining community and took the Best Village Shop/ PO award for South Wales in the Countryside Alliance’s Best Rural Retailer competition last year.

Richard’s family used to be tailors until Burtons outfitters began doing “off the peg” clothes, so they converted the tailors into a shop (the cutting table is still central to the shop and the cutting scissors still come in handy when opening parcels). They bought the Post Office later when the local service was about to close down. This is a shop, Post Office, photocopying facility and passport photography centre and they have been very enterprising in setting up an internet cafe type facility.

To ensure all the community get the benefit of this, Win and Richard set up ‘KITE’ (Kadog Information Technology Enterprise) with a few other volunteers. The group applied for grants to enable one to one tutoring to be made available to members of the community who do not have computers and who are unable to attend classes, or may not have the confidence to get training any other way. This has been very successful. Grants have been awarded and free training is now underway and more and more people are signing up for sessions to enable them to become computer literate. They have shown vision and determination in not only keeping the original shop open but also in making sure the village continues to have a Post Office. Win and Richard understand that their shop is vital to villagers but that they cannot depend on anyone but themselves to make it thrive. One nomination in the Best Rural Retailer competition said “they will not only go the extra mile, they will take you the extra mile”. www.llangadog.com.

5.Local Food – Sally Stringer from Beckford, Worcestershire
Sally Stringer runs Beckford Stores & Post Office in Beckford on the south eastern side of Bredon Hill, Worcestershire. Sally has also been nominated for a Best Rural Retailer award in the past and is at the heart of her community.

Sally is passionate about supporting and nurturing her local community, and has started several initiatives to ensure everyone can continue working within the countryside she knows and loves. She actively promotes local suppliers of every shape and size and set up the Bredon Hill local food network to promote local farmers and growers to both the local and wider communities. Such schemes are vital within rural communities to support and promote local producers fighting against the supermarket stranglehold.

Sally recently broke both her arms out hunting, but still managed to serve in the shop!!

6.Rural GP – Paul Davenport, Nuneaton, Warwickshire
When Paul Davenport became a GP in 1985, he intended and hoped to make a difference to the levels of health care available to rural people throughout his region. From his surgery in Market Bosworth, he travels across Leicestershire visiting and delivering care to as many patients as he can fit into a day, but he is convinced that patient care has deteriorated over the past ten years.

Paul has seen a drop in the level of personal interaction his patients receive in the last 10 years as hospitals have been faced with league tables and targets and doctors have been forced to adhere to working time directives. He is concerned that his patients are now being treated as diseases that need curing, rather than people who need care.

However gloomy the current NHS seems, Paul has not lost hope entirely. His job as a GP does offer the opportunity to provide the personal service that his patients require, and within his rural community this interaction is key. With the loss of many other rural services and pastimes, a local GP is essential to maintain the overall well-being of the community.

7.Livestock farmer – Chris Salisbury, Bickenham, Tiverton.
His wife, Sarah, said: “We were dairy farmers until September of last year when we finally gave in to the pressures within the industry and called it a day. Having made our cowman redundant last April my husband, Chris Salisbury, was doing all the milking, we couldn’t afford any relief, he milked every day for six months whilst running the rest of the farm (600 acres). Under increasing financial pressure – we are Crown tenants – not to mention increasing exhaustion, we made the heart breaking decision to sell our herd of pedigree Holsteins, which Chris and his father had spent years breeding – it was a devastating day. We are now trying to establish a number of diversification projects including equestrian and woodland/conservation grazing, but I know his heart is with dairy cows!”

8.Arable farmer/ agri-environment – Graham Downing, Chediston, Suffolk
Graham Downing bought Bridge Farm, Chediston, in north east Suffolk in November 2002. Potential rewards for arable farming did not appear bright, but the future for agri-environment schemes and the conversion of redundant buildings to new commercial uses looked much more promising. So Graham put his arable work out to contract and set about creating an attractive environment at Bridge Farm and developing its derelict buildings.

Starting in 2003 he entered the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and replaced all the hedgerows which had been grubbed up in the 1960s, introduced 2.5km of wildlife-friendly uncropped arable field margins, planted 250 trees, restored two old farm ponds and put 7 acres of low-lying cereal land down to a wild flower meadow. The result was a huge increase in wildlife interest, which has been boosted further by overwintered cereal stubbles and wild bird cover crops.

The Downings’ barn has recently opened as an independent living centre, providing a valuable facility for elderly and disabled people throughout north Suffolk. It is an important boost to Veronica Downing’s thriving occupational therapy business and it has also created two additional jobs.

9.Gamekeeper – Stuart Riddell, Hexham, Northumbria
Stuart Riddell, 50, is a successfully self-employed gamekeeper and game farmer from Hexham, and a founding member of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation. Ten years ago he moved to a job in Northumberland from his native Scotland. Unfortunately he was soon made redundant and Stuart took the decision to become self-employed and take the shoot on himself. This was a brave move at a time when shooting was not benefiting from the popularity it currently enjoys. But as a fifth generation gamekeeper with a son following in his footsteps Stuart was determined to make the estate the success that it is today.

10.Angling – Sakina Haleem, Stoke on Trent
Sakina, from Stoke on Trent only turned 20 in July 2007 but she already has more angling experience, and has given more back to fishing, than most people do in a lifetime. Born Corina Smith, from the age of three, in her favourite pink wellies, she fished with her father, Dave, all over the country. From her early teens she acted as a mentor and coach in the ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’ programme which creates opportunities for young people who need a diversion from the temptations of society. She is now a fully qualified coach.

Sakina got involved in ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’ when the project’s founder, Durham policeman Mick Watson, met her at Chatsworth angling fair and was impressed to the point of inviting her to County Durham for a fishing session. During that visit Mick quickly realised her potential and invited her to demonstrate her skills at subsequent NEC Go Fishing shows and Chatsworth angling fairs. Simultaneously her father Dave Smith was creating the Get Hooked on fishing “Midshires” scheme, and Sakina readily fulfilled the role of Senior Peer coach. She has always had a huge commitment to give something back to angling and has proved to be a huge asset to ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’.

In 2004 Sakina converted to Islam and her influence has seen Get Hooked broadening its reach into the Muslim community promoting angling as an inclusive, enjoyable and socially beneficial pastime. She is married to a young Muslim man and works in an intervention unit at a local school during the week and coaches fishing at the weekends.