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WIRRAL RELIC TAM O’SHANTER FARM
NEEDS YOUR HELP…
If you have grown up in Wirral, you will more than likely be
familiar with Tam O’Shanter Farm. Whether you played there
as a child or spent days out there with your children, it’s no
exaggeration to say the farm is a key part of our history.
The farm is not owned, managed or funded by Local Authority.
It has always been an independent “private estate” owned by the
Tam O’Shanter Cottage Urban Farm Trust.
The estate receives no income apart from donations, sponsorship
and public fundraising.
For the farm to remain a managed facility, £85,000 needs to be
raised through sponsorship and pledges to carry it through the
next financial year.
After this money is used to stabilise the farm, the Trust has plans
to recreate the busy community hub of previous years and offer
volunteer placements to young people, the socially challenged
and those in long term unemployment. They also have plans
for an education programme for all ages and a mental health
wellbeing scheme.
Unfortunately, the farm has been more or less unmanaged for
many years. Members of the community have come and gone to
play a part in the lands survival, but there has been no consistent
way of working and no effective business plan. To achieve this, the Trust will need funding to employ a full
time qualified and experienced volunteer development manager
to oversee the volunteer projects activities and an income
generation and events manager to capitalise on the farm’s assets
and available spaces.
Back in November 2018, the Trustees set themselves a challenge
to make the farm sustainable and self-supporting within 12
months. A Big Lottery development grant is currently under
consideration but will only fund very specific developments and
will not contribute to the core funding required to sustain it.
However, due to no investment over a long period of time, many
areas of the farm had sadly fallen into disrepair. The Trust asks for YOUR pledges in 2020, in order to begin the
financial year with a bit of stability. Without enough pledges,
it could sadly see a return to an unmanaged and haphazard
existence.
The Trust worked tirelessly for 12 months and is now finally
ready to move forward. However, it is impossible for the farm
to remain effectively managed and maintained with such a lack
of funding.
To offer your support or sponsorship to Tam O’Shanter please
contact Josephine Wood MBE, Treasurer and Trustee Pawprints
Wirral Wildlife at: [email protected]
wirrallife.com 29