Lincolnshire Rural Support Network celebrates its 25th anniversary

A charity set up to tackle loneliness as well as providing pastoral and practical support to Lincolnshire’s farming community is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The Lincolnshire Rural Support Network (LRSN) is a volunteer-led organisation supporting people in agricultural and horticultural industries during periods of anxiety and stress and helps them find solutions to problems relating to their businesses and families.

The charity was set up in 1999 by Lincolnshire’s agricultural chaplain Alan Robson along with a small group of likeminded people. Last year (April 2022 to March 2023) it provided support to 216 families, answered 171 calls of help via its dedicated helpline, maximised almost £3million worth of finance for businesses through grant funding while its volunteers gave up almost 1,000 hours working one to one on cases.

“The idea was to support the agricultural community,” says Sarah Poucher, LRSN fundraiser and communications manager.

“Chaplain Alan Robson realised there was a lot of anxiety and stress within the farming community, and he wanted to try and do something to help.

“The charity was initially a signposting service pointing people in the right direction for help but over the years it’s grown, and while it still signposts people, our volunteers also have a huge wealth of knowledge and experience and are able to talk through all kinds of problems and help people find solutions.”

LRSN has around 50 volunteers, including its trustees, who take on a roles including organising events, fundraising, meeting the public, manning its helpline, collaborating with other organisations and working on individual cases.

“Most of our volunteers have some agricultural background or were brought up in a farming family,” explains Sarah. “The amount of time they give is up to them – some can spare a few hours each month and are happy to meet people while manning our stall or health hut or they might be working on cases.

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“Others man our phone helpline, which is open 8am to 8pm every day, all year round. We’re always looking for more people to get involved and anyone who wants to find out more can contact us through our website or come and see us at one of our events.”

One of the most popular LRSN services is its monthly health clinics staffed by trained nurses at Louth Cattle Market, Spalding Auction and Melton Mowbray Market, which is attended by a large number of Lincolnshire farmers.

These sessions include free checks for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, plus pre-diabetes checks, along with eye and ear checks and people can be referred on to other medical services for further help.

“Farmers are busy people – that’s why we need go to them,” adds Sarah. “They live and work in isolated communities, don’t like taking time off work to go to the doctors or talking about their health.

“We have regulars who have got to know us at these markets, and other people will chat to our volunteers as they’re passing and then we can encourage them to take a free health check.

“Once they’ve relaxed a bit, that can lead to them opening up about other health issues and concerns. It’s not just physical health, we’re here to support mental health too.

“If, for example, someone tells us they’ve not been sleeping, we can help get to the bottom of it, and help them find a solution. People living in farming communities can be isolated – they might go to the market every week or every month, but they perhaps don’t speak to anyone. We attend these venues to encourage people to have a chat and see if we can help them in any way. It’s about meeting like-minded people, so there’s a social connection.”

LRSN also runs a mobile health hut which attends farming and machinery sales, local shows, The Lincolnshire Show and NFU events.

To mark its anniversary LRSN is hosting events every month throughout 2024, including golf days, breakfast socials, an auction and the team will be at Lincolnshire Show in June. This month there were two quizzes – one at Market Rasen Rugby Club and the other at Boston Rugby Club – both on March 21. A charity ball for 800 people is being held in conjunction with Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and Lincolnshire Rural Agricultural Chaplains at Lincolnshire Showground on June 22 too.

“LRSN is an invaluable service in our agricultural communities – we cannot stress that enough, and the people we work with are incredibly grateful for the help we give them,” adds Sarah.

“Some we support for just a few weeks, others it’s ongoing – for several months, even years. We do everything we can to offer support and help them reach a solution to their problems themselves so they can work these things out for themselves in the future.

“But we never close the door on people, we offer six monthly check-ups to see how they’re getting on and people can always return to us for help if they need to.

“To be marking our 25th anniversary is a wonderful achievement and just shows how valuable this service is.”

* For more information about the LRSN, the work it does and how to volunteer visit lrsn.co.uk or if you have an issue you need to talk through call its helpline – open between 8am and 8pm – on 0800 138 1710.