The Royal Countryside Fund awards Fellowship to Dame Margaret Barbour
The Royal Countryside Fund has awarded a Fellowship to Dame Margaret Barbour in recognition of the longstanding and outstanding contribution she has made to the charity’s work.
As chairman of Barbour since 1973 and having founded The Barbour Foundation in 1988, Dame Margaret has personally championed the long-term support both have provided for the work of the RCF. Barbour first partnered with the charity in 2013 since when it has helped the RCF to support over 5,000 farming families and 550 rural community organisations across the UK.
Under Dame Margaret’s leadership, Barbour and the Barbour Foundation have funded RCF workshops in Northumberland, giving farmers practical advice on how to improve biodiversity on their farms and incorporate this work into their business. Barbour has also helped raise money for the RCF’s work by auctioning off bespoke jackets and donating the proceeds from jacket rewaxing at agricultural shows.
The RCF’s Chair, Heather Hancock LVO DL, said:
“Dame Margaret has been a longstanding supporter of the RCF and an ardent advocate of our work and of the British countryside. We’re immensely grateful for her experience, her energy and her advice. It’s a great pleasure to be able to acknowledge her commitment by awarding her this Fellowship.”
On receiving her Fellowship Dame Margaret said:
“In my lifetime farming and rural communities have undergone an extraordinary amount of change and disruption, but their future is still uncertain. They need our backing now more than ever. It has been incredibly rewarding to support the work of the RCF and to see firsthand the impact the charity has had on rural and farming communities in the North East of England and across the whole UK. I am very honoured to receive this Fellowship.”
Dame Margaret joins the RCF’s existing Fellows: Mark Allen OBE, Sara Bennison, Elizabeth Buchanan CVO FRAgS, Lord Curry of Kirkharle CBE, Stephen Dunmore OBE, Mark Pendlington LL and Lord Mark Price CVO.