The King met a relative of the late Queen’s beloved pony Emma, as he received a warm welcome at an auction mart in Lancashire.
On Monday, Charles visited Clitheroe Auction Mart where he toured the livestock area on a non-market day and spoke to local farmers who brought their rare breed sheep and cattle.
Livestock trading in Clitheroe dates back to 1499 with the market in the town established since 1897 serving the Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland.
Charles was shown around the mart’s rural business centre where farmers can access land agents, financial advisers and lawyers.
He also spoke to representatives of the Field Nurses charity which enables nurses to hold drop-in sessions at auction marts across Lancashire and South Cumbria to offer basic health checks and mental wellbeing support to members of the rural community.
Earlier, Charles was heckled as he greeted crowds outside Clitheroe train station when a man shouted: “How long have you known about Andrew?”
The rest of the crowd booed after the question was asked.
As he unveiled a plaque in the auction ring to mark the visit, Charles told those gathered: “I promise you I know only too well how vital the rural sector and the farming sector is to this country.
“Having started the Countryside Fund nearly 20 years ago, I hope that is at least contributing to some degree to the welfare and I hope also the adaptability of farmers to the endless complications and challenges you have to meet. For me I do have some appreciation of what you put up with.
“Thank God is all I can say for marts like this and all the people associated with it like the field nurses and everybody else.
“So I can only hope you have as successful a coming season as possible, weather permitting, climate change permitting and anything else. It is remarkable how you manage.”
The King thanked them for their efforts and received a rapturous round of applause.
In the auction ring he met Fell pony Pearl, related on her sire’s side to Emma, the black Fell pony who made an appearance at the late monarch’s funeral where laid over her saddle was the Queen’s sheepskin saddle cover and the silk headscarf she wore when riding.
Pearl was bred by Rossendale farmers Andrew Thorpe, 64, and Michelle Thorpe, 63, who gave her as a wedding present to their nephew Ben, 39, when he married wife Eleanor, 32.
Ben Thorpe said: “She is part of the family, like having a dog.”
Earlier, Field Nurses founder member Richard Schofield explained to Charles why the charity was set up 10 years ago. A team of 12 nurses visits eight auction marts in the region, as well as agricultural shows.
He said: “We have a nurse in an auction mart every week. You don’t need an appointment. You just go and see them.
“I was doing mobile sheep dipping and sheep shearing, and I was going on a farm and I’m getting all these problems.
“So we thought what if we could put someone in place that could help and give advice, and signpost them to relative people and channel them to more definite places.
“There are farmers that come into the auction and go out with an ambulance. The nurse will pick up a situation and say ‘look, I don’t want you to go home. I want you to go straight to hospital’. And that has happened on more than one occasion.
“The suicide rate in farming is higher than other professions in the country.”
Trustee Roger Dugdale said: “A lot of farmers are isolated and work on their own. They haven’t time to go to the GP so they just keep going and getting on with it but they all go to the auction mart. It’s a social occasion.”
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