An Isle of Wight dairy farm will celebrate World School Milk Day on Wednesday 27th September with a visit by youngsters from an Island primary school.
Briddlesford Lodge Farm at Wootton will host Year 4 pupils from Queensgate Foundation Primary School, East Cowes next Wednesday. Their visit will start with a milky breakfast, supported by NFU South East. The morning will also include a film, a talk about milk production and then a farm tour.
Invited guests include Isle of Wight Council chair Lora Peacey Wilcox; councillors from East Cowes, Whippingham and Osborne; the NFU, the Island MP Bob Seely and school governors.
Farmer Paul Griffin says:
“Milk has been a great source of nutrition for children and adults for more than a thousand years, particularly for bone and tooth and muscle development. Milk is probably the best contribution to a healthy diet compared with any other food.”
Now in its 17th year, World School Milk Day was set up by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to celebrate the health benefits of school milk programmes around the world.
Isle of Wight NFU Adviser James Osman explains:
“Nationally the NFU is supporting World School Milk Day to promote the consumption of milk in schools and to ensure dairy products feature in balanced diets for young people now and in the future.”
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Currently schools in England, Wales and Scotland can sign up to the School Milk Subsidy Scheme run by the Rural Payments Agency under the EU School Milk Scheme. However, the UK’s exit from the EU will halt access to the EU Scheme. The UK Government has committed to match any shortfall up to 2020, but longer term prospects remain unclear.
