Mitchell & Webber Assist in Charity "Muckathon"
Helston and St Keverne Young Farmers Club hopes to have raised around £5,000 for Cornwall’s multiple sclerosis Merlin Project after spreading both the word and the muck in a 24-hour “muckathon.”
The father of one of the club’s members died from multiple sclerosis last year, prompting colleagues to set about raising funds for the project.
The outcome was a mammoth non-stop day-and-night programme of muck-spreading over some 30 fields belonging to six farms on the Lizard peninsula and together totalling around 250 acres.
Starting and finishing at Helston’s Degibna Lane, 40 members did the spreading with the aid of three tractors, with each member contributing a two-hour stint. They were backed up by partners with support including a mobile barbeque.
Each farm had its manure and slurry ready for collection and dispersal and their fee for the service went to the Merlin Project. Funds were also raised through donations, sponsorships, a raffle and a grand barn dance to round off the big event.
“It was a real team effort and we are immensely grateful to all the companies and individuals, big and small, who supported us in any way,” said club chairman William Curtis.
“The weather wasn’t exactly marvellous, so it was a dirty business in more ways than one, but at least for the roads part we had a tractor and road brush mopping up behind to keep everywhere neat and tidy!”
The muckathon got under way with a formal send-off from Derek Murphy, a retired doctor who founded the Merlin Project with his wife Eileen in 2001.
Scorrier-based Mitchell and Webber donated a thousand litres of fuel, catering for tractors, bowser and loader. The tractors and other equipment were loaned for the occasion by Truro Farm Machinery, Hamblys, Christian Smith Agriculture, Broad Agri and Central Garage, Hayle.
Cornwall has the highest incidence of multiple sclerosis on the UK mainland and the Merlin Project at Hewas Water, St Austell, is the county’s only MS therapy centre.
