Farm First Vets at Penpergym, is proud to support local causes and this year they voted to raise funds and awareness for the Monmouthshire Rural Support Centre at Monmouthshire Markets.

Receptionist Lauren Richards told the Beacon: “As a farm practice, we know first-hand the mental and physical challenges farmers face, and we felt this charity, based at Raglan livestock market, provided vital support.

“To raise funds, we hosted a quiz night at The Hogs Head in Llanvethrine, complete with a raffle and auction. Our vets provided the quiz questions, and a client kindly volunteered as quiz master and auctioneer.

“We were overwhelmed by the generosity of donations, which included everything from afternoon tea vouchers to semen straws! This event raised a staggering £3,680 alone.

“In addition to the quiz we also ran a raffle at the Gwent Young Farmers Rally event and a children's treasure hunt at the Open Farm Sunday event held at The Littlest Dairy, Pencoed Fach Farm in Blackwood.”

Bob Stevenson, a former vet himself and now figurehead of the support centre was presented with a cheque for £3,919 by staff and vets at the practice last week.

He explained that the charity deals not only with mental issues, but physical ones as well as the two are often inter-linked.

Starting with a £30,000 grant from European funding, the charity set itself up as a one stop shop for farmers and rural workers but now relies solely on local fundraising to keep its good work going.

“We have 12 volunteers experienced in agricultural, legal, financial and medical aspects who will help someone connect with other charities like RABI - the farmers’ charity who provide practical, financial and emotional support to farming people.

“We are happy to visit farmers in their own homes, but most seem content to have a chat in the market canteen”, added Bob.

The support charity can be found at the market every Monday and Wednesday as well as special events such as pedigree sales.

“We have people coming in with physical problems with their heart and lungs as well so we have medical people there to help: Physical and mental issues are so intimately connected, if you have a man struggling with health in general and start to look at it, you’ll see it impacts the mental state as well.

“We have a medical screening process every second Wednesday and those may well identify people in atrial fibrillation for instance. We had one farmer and he was almost in heart failure and having medics and district nurses to hand, we were able to help get him through the triage with the doctors and onto hospital within a few hours.”

The charity now depends solely on fundraising like the Farm First Vets events, they are all unpaid and rely upon volunteers turning up to give assistance.”

The support has grown with chiropodists and hairdressers there now as well as blood pressure checks and other health screenings.

The next health screening is Wednesday, June 24, between 10am and 2pm