In September a group of our Young Farmers, Greenagers, volunteers, apprentices and staff attended the annual London Harvest Festival, that was hosted at Lambourne End Outdoor Centre. Here we competed in photography, horticulture and animal shows against other London city farms and community gardens. Scroll down to find out how we go on!

Horticulture

Well done to all our students, volunteers and staff, we came third overall and scooped several first prizes in the Horticulture Show!

We came 1st place for our beautiful Display of Seasonal Fruit & Vegetables. We also gained 1st place in ‘Pollinator-Friendly Plant’ category and 3rd Place in the ‘Prettiest Pumpkin’ category.

Thanks to the Greenagers who picked flowers and herbs on the morning of the Show and made two arrangements to enter.

Our honey gained 1st place overall. If you’d like to try some of our ‘award-winning’ honey, jars will soon be on sale in the Farm Shop!

Animals

We were thrilled to come second overall in the animal show! Congratulations to Lambourne End team who gained a worthy first place.

We took part in a range of categories that focused on the handlers and then the animals themselves. We’re so proud of all our Young Farmers, Greenagers, Volunteers, Apprentice and Staff who work hard caring for our animals all year round and to those who attended on the day and displayed their excellent knowledge and handling skills!

Well done to Sophie, who gained a 1st place in the 12-14 year old large animal handler category leading one of our lambs. She went on to complete against the other age ranges (including adults) and came second overall in the Young Handler Competition!

A special mention also goes to Karl, one of our volunteers. He not only gained 2nd place in the 18+ handler category showing one of our goats, but he was also recognised with the annual award for a young volunteer who has shown particular dedication and commitment – chosen from all the city farms! Karl is 19 and joined the Farm as a livestock volunteer back in May 2019. He’s attended consistently for two days a week and has proved himself to be a reliable, dedicated and committed volunteer. Karl is happy to help with any tasks in addition to his animal care role (including helping with tours for older people’s groups and lots of maintenance tasks). He also successfully completed his Level One Animal Care diploma at the Farm. 

After the handler showing it was our animals turn for attention. We entered the goat, sheep, equine and guinea pig classes, followed by the native breed and veteran classes and gained even more rosettes! Highlights were the equine and goat classes. Kiera stole the show, winning 1st place in Best Equine, 1st place for Best Native and 2nd in Best Veteran. Yin and Yang our Anglo Nubian nannies came 1st and 2nd in the Best Goat class. 

Afternoon Activities and Tug of War

The animal showing was completed in the morning. After lunch we enjoyed an afternoon exploring Lambourne End’s farm while the Young Farmers and Greenagers took part in a range of activities including a high speed pony and cart ride then braving the zip wire!

We came back together to cheer on the Tug of War teams. Our Young Farmers and Greenagers took 1st Place in the under 16 category, they were given a trophy made by the mobile forge that day. Well done also to our adult team who put a fantastic effort in!

Photography

We entered lots of photos in the different categories and were pleased to come second overall. Thanks to the Young Farmers, volunteers and staff who took the photos!

3rd Place in the ‘Pollinators’ category

Thanks to the London City Farms & Community Garden Association and their funders for their hard work putting on the London Harvest Festival.

Thanks to our own funders who made the day possible, including Southwark Council’s Neighbourhood Fund and Jack Petchey Foundation’s Educational Trip Fund which enabled us to cover the cost of a coach to take as many of our young people and volunteers as possible.

We had a fantastic time! Here’s what some of our participants said about the event:

“I thoroughly enjoyed my first time at the London Harvest Festival, it was an amazing (and educational) day! Seeing lots of the city farms come together to share in this wonderful event was really lovely – it was really interesting to see what other farms and gardens have been up to and chat to their staff and volunteers! There was a great sense of community and celebration for what everyone has achieved over the summer months!”

“It was fun and good to see other animals from other city farms. The judges were nice and asked lots of questions. It was a good experience, I learnt about how animal showing works.”

“The show has been one of my favourite days of the year! It was a chance to catch up with people who work/volunteer on different days and hear more about what they do. It was also really good to see what the other city farms are doing and get to look at the different breeds of the animals. It was interesting to see what the judges were doing, what questions they ask, and it was impressive how well everyone handled the animals. Lambourne End was lovely and felt like being properly in the countryside.”

“Everyone enjoyed the day! It gave the opportunity for volunteers, young farmers, greenagers and staff to put their knowledge and animal handling skills to the test, with the support and encouragement from all at team Surrey Docks. A good team building experience for all involved.”