From farm to fair!

Happy New Year - and welcome to the first new look Cornel Clecs of the year - hopefully it’ll be a prosperous new year for us all.

I’d like to take you back to last month and to the busy pre Christmas period when numerous schools held their annual Christmas fairs.  One school in Ceredigion managed to sell very local produce during their fair.

Pupils studying the GCSE Agriculture course at Ysgol Henry Richard, Tregaron reared lambs on the school's farm last year in order to sell the meat at the school's christmas fair.

Ahead of the fair, the butcher and former pupil Rhys Evans from Cig Oen Caron showed the pupils how to prepare a carcass, and explained all the different cuts of meat.

“The School Christmas Fair is a good opportunity for pupils to sell the meat and see a profit generated from the year's work," said Mrs Eleri James, Ysgol Henry Richard's Food, Nutrition and Agriculture teacher. "We are grateful to Rhys for his willingness to prepare the lambs and burgers at his slaughterhouse in Tregaron - the meat is truly local," she added. This emphasises how important it is to learn the principles of 'from gate to plate', and Ysgol Henry Richard is lucky to have its own farm which enables us to do this practically" she added.

Ysgol Henry Richard has been offering the BTEC course in Agriculture for over 15 years, and it is a popular choice with the pupils. 

"As a rural school the agriculture course is extremely valuable" said the school’s  headteacher Mr Dorian Pugh "It is a good introduction to agricultural education, and offers a platform for pupils to progress to further vocational courses after leaving school ", he added.

The initiative has impressed Catrin Griffiths, the FUW’s County Executive Officer in Ceredigion. "It’s a pleasure to see this practical work at Ysgol Henry Richard, and in other schools across the county at Penweddig, Aberystwyth and Bro Teifi, Llandysul" she said. The County Council's plans to create a further education centre in Lampeter following the recent purchase of Llettytwppa farm are encouraging, and will offer an option for the county's pupils to continue their agricultural education locally" she added.

It’s nice to be able to start 2026 with such a positive story and celebrate the enthusiasm of the next generation of farmers - the future is safe in their hands.