It's Great British Beef Week
Great British Beef Week is an annual initiative organised by the group Ladies in Beef and timed to coincide with St George's Day (April 23).
The group was founded by Minette Batters, newly elected deputy president of the NFU, and fellow SW beef farmer Jilly Greed. There are members of the group across the UK who all care passionately about Red Tractor-assured British beef and want to promote its quality, versatility and nutritional benefits, not least in the wake of last year's horse meat scandal.
Their message to the trade and general public is traceability, urging consumers to look carefully at labelling when buying meat. They have also produced a handy ‘Shoppers Guide' to explain more (available from www.ladiesinbeef.org.uk). Their additional message for the farming public is the importance of suckler herds to ensure the British beef industry has a healthy future.
The charity chosen to benefit from fundraising during this year's event is R.A.B.I. (Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution). R.A.B.I. is a welfare charity for farming people in financial difficulty. Each year it helps around 2,000 farming families. In addition to giving practical help, the charity also pays out more than £2 million in grants every year.
Their support is offered in confidence to people of all ages, and includes for example one-off, emergency or regular payments, as well as the provision of essential household items and disability equipment.
For working farmers R.A.B.I. can also fund relief farm staff to help in a crisis, and training through our Gateway scheme. For retired and/or disabled people we can also pay towards care home and home-help costs, and run two residential homes of our own, in Suffolk and Somerset.
Events are taking place across England and Wales to celebrate British beef and at the same time raise funds for R.A.B.I. to support its work with farming people in difficulty. Members of the public are encouraged to arrange their own events for family and friends and make a donation. For more details see www.rabi.org.uk
The campaign seeks to capitalise on the popularity of the ‘selfie' by restyling it as a ‘beefie' and asking people to include something beef-related in their picture. They can do so as follows:
- Post a ‘beefie' on Twitter use the hashtag #beefie and include @rabicharity and @ladiesinbeef1 in your tweet,
- Put a photograph on Facebook in support of #greatbritishbeefweek.
Please then donate £1 to RABI, by texting RABI18 followed by the £ sign and the amount to 70070 (eg RABI18£1).
To find out more visit www.rabi.org.uk or call R.A.B.I's confidential helpline 0300 303 7373.
- 24th April 2014
