Highland Cow tour to mark anniversary

George visited 12 schools across Scotland, from Jedburgh to Fochabers, before arriving back to Edinburgh in time for the Royal Highland Show on June 20.

The children of Abington and Crawford Primary Schools got the chance to meet George and climb aboard his tractor when he stopped by Abington on June 18.

A passionate supporter of RHET’s work, George, and local RHET volunteer farmer Grant Hyslop, chatted to the pupils about food and farming in the hope of inspiring children to eat local and consider a career in the rural sector.

George was also aiming to raise £6000 for the charity, that provides free school visits, teacher resources and classroom speakers, and is asking for donations on the Tractor Tour JustGiving page.

George said: “This was a fun adventure designed to spread awareness of RHET and raise money so we can undertake even more great work. I really hope people will donate for what is a really remarkable charity.”

Hazel Orr, headteacher of the two schools, said: “The children were really looking forward to meeting George and learned about food and farming and meeting a real highland cow and calf.”

Sponsors supporting the Tractor Tour include farm machinery dealer the Hamilton Ross Group that have supplied the Massey Ferguson tractor from their Reekie Ltd Perth depot, Allison Enterprises and the Binn Group, both of Glenfarg, that are supplying a trailer for the ‘cow’ - which was sculpted by Ken Paxton at ArtFe using recycled farm metal collected from Scottish farms. The cow will be auctioned later in the year at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the charity.