The driving force behind a rural education charity operating in Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen city, has been crowned the winner of this year’s Royal Northern Agricultural Society (RNAS) under-35 award.
Rachel Turner is the project manager at the Royal Northern Countryside Initiative (RNCI).
An Essex native, Mrs Turner holds an honours degree in biological sciences from the University of Nottingham. This led to her first job as a science technician at a school in York.
Now based in Moray, Mrs Turner moved to Scotland after falling in love with the north of Scotland following a holiday to the area.
She moved up to work at the science division of Milne’s High School in Fochabers, and three years ago joined RNCI.
“I enjoy the variety of my job and meeting lots of different people, as well as the satisfaction you get in knowing you are doing a good job that’s important and worthwhile,” said Mrs Turner.
As the main port of call for the charity, Mrs Turner is responsible for coordinating pupil visits to farms and farmer visits to schools. She is also responsible for liaising with the charity’s many farmer volunteers.
“Many people are so ignorant about where their food comes from so this is a really nice job,” said Mrs Turner.
Since taking on Mrs Turner, the charity’s reach has more than doubled.
The year she joined around 3,000 pupils were either brought onto farms or visited by a farmer, and in the past academic year this number grew to 7,300 pupils.
When she’s not busy helping teach the next generation about food and farming, Mrs Turner enjoys horse-riding and spending time with her husband John and children Cameron, 12, and Lauren, 10.
She said she was “absolutely gobsmacked” to win the award and paid tribute to everyone who helped the charity, either through donations or volunteering.
“I’d like to thank all the fundraisers and volunteers. We couldn’t do it without them,” said Mrs Turner.
A citation for the award, which is sponsored by SRUC, states: “Rachel has tirelessly sought to increase the charity’s engagement with children at nursery, primary and secondary schools throughout the north-east of Scotland, helping to arrange farm visits, classroom speakers, and tow the Countryside Classroom On Wheels, or CCOW for short, to schools in the area, enabling schoolchildren to see livestock close at hand, be this ewe, lamb, calf or hen.
“Just as the RNCI founding fathers sought to do, there has never been a more important time to educate children about where their food comes from, explain what farmers do, and teach them an understanding of the wider countryside and it’s role. Rachel has been able to facilitate this.”
Rachel will be presented with her award at an awards lunch on Friday, November 4, at the Jury’s Inn (formerly the Thistle Hotel) at Aberdeen Airport. A limited number of tickets are still available. Tickets cost £25 and are available from RNAS secretary Alison Argo. They can be obtained by calling Mrs Argo on 07714899628 or by emailing secretary@rnas.info
