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FUW Gwent county chairman Elwyn Probert - furthest right - presents a £3,000 cheque to Emyr Jones. Also pictured - from left - is FUW Glamorganshire county executive officer Rachel Taylor, Glyn Davies and Lorraine Howells.[/caption]
South Wales farmers "riding" wooden horses on a farm in the Rhymney Valley have helped raise around £4,000 for cancer charities and money is still rolling in.
The "jockeys" were competing at a joint fund-raising event organised by the Farmers' Union of Wales Gwent and Glamorgan county branches for union president Emyr Jones' charity fund Cancer Research Wales and for Velindre Cancer Centre, Whitchurch, Cardiff.
The event, on FUW vice president Lorraine Howells' Cwm Carno Farm, near Tredegar, featured wooden horse races where six horses were auctioned off before each race with the winners proceeding to a grand final.
Bidding was brisk with the auction raising almost £1,000. A top price of £40 was paid by FUW Gwent area officer Neil Smith for the last horse to be auctioned but it failed to qualify for the final.
"The event was attended by about 150 people who on arrival were served with a wonderful cold meat supper meal prepared by Joyce Matthews and Cheryl Evans plus numerous helpers," said FUW Gwent county executive officer Glyn Davies.
"All the food for the evening was donated by local members and businesses and I am sure that everyone who attended would agree that the excellent food could not be bettered.
"All the races, including the grand final, were sponsored by local businesses to which grateful thanks are extended.
"The event displayed the wonderful camaraderie which exists in the local farming communities and the way in which they can come together at such an event is to be applauded.
"Miss Howells should also be congratulated for thinking of holding such an event but she has now created a precedent for fund-raising events which will be hard to follow."