Tim Lerwill, a director at West accountants Old Mill has secured a grant of £3,000 for Bath charity Jamie’s Farm thanks to his association with the Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants.
Each year, the company gives around £100,000 to good causes through its charitable arm The Chartered Accountants Livery Charity (CALC) and Tim identified Jamie’s Farm as a worthy recipient of funding.
He said: “CALC has a particular focus on education and helping the disadvantaged, and I felt that Jamie’s Farm fitted the bill perfectly as it uses farm care and education to help vulnerable and disadvantaged children.”
Jamie’s Farm is a charity located just outside Bath on a farm in Ditteridge near Box.
The charity was founded by Jamie Feilden as a response to his experience teaching at a challenging urban secondary school. Jamie used his background and passion for farming to engage children, firstly by bringing lambs from his family farm into the school playground for a term back in 2005.
The responsibility of caring for the lambs had a massive impact on the most challenging students, improving their behaviour, attendance and relationships, so Jamie took the initiative forward and for the next three years hosted visits for pupils at this family’s farm in Bath. He discovered that the experience of living and working in the countryside was giving de-motivated and disengaged students a new purpose and direction in their lives and in 2009, he established the charity Jamie's Farm with the aim to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children, helping them to flourish in education, at home and in the community.
In 2010 Jamie’s Farm purchased a charity-owned site with a farmhouse and 60 acres of land and now hosts five- day visits from groups of 12 children at a time, aged between eight-18, helping them through care farming and education to improve their self esteem, behaviour and engagement. But Jamie wants to do more, as he explains.
“So far, Jamie’s Farm has worked with more than 1,000 children and 300 staff, and the success rate has been phenomenal, with improved behaviour in 82% of children, improved self esteem in 80% and 68% of those that visit no longer being at risk of exclusion from school on their return home.
“Our 2012-2015 strategy is to take Jamie’s Farm to the next level, expand the charity across the UK and help more and more children. With Tim’s help we asked CALC for £3,000 to go towards the core cost funding required to deliver this strategy and were absolutely delighted when we were awarded the full amount.”
Tim said: “Through a residential visit to a working farm offering a unique combination of family, farming and therapy, Jamie’s Farm acts as a catalyst for change that is vitally important to the lives of the young people involved. I am therefore delighted that our funding application was successful, and look forward to seeing the charity’s influence and reach taken to the next level.”
Old Mill has offices in five towns including Melksham and Shepton Mallet.
Pictured: Tim Lerwill, left, with Jamie Feilden 
