Monday, 08 March 2010
FINAL SCRIPT
BBC Radio 4 Appeal
Arthur Rank Centre
Presenter:
Pam Rhodes
Time: 2’50’’
Tx: 7th March 2010
WORDS 421
*
Source: Commission for Rural Communities (2006) State of the Countryside
2006 using CACI Paycheck data.
** Case studies are genuine but names have
been changed.
ARC RADIO BROADCAST
For all its beauty, life
in the countryside can be tough.
I know during my years of
presenting SONGS OF PRAISE, I’ve come across real hardship in farming and
rural communities. Our rolling English countryside may seem idyllic,
but the fact is that over *900,000 rural households are living in poverty
and constant worry.
Vulnerable and isolated – that’s how many feel -
because their plight is hidden from view. But there is somewhere they can
turn.
The Arthur Rank Centre is a small charity with a great spirit
which for 38 years has been making a real difference to rural communities
and churches.
It helps people like ROBERT** who was struggling to
keep his farm business afloat while he cared for his sick wife. With
no help, he lost the farm and the family home. When he phoned the ARC
helpline he told them he had considered even suicide (and sadly that is not
an unusual story for the charity to hear). They helped with practical
solutions and emotional support. Robert is now working on a neighboring farm
and has been re-housed locally, so his children have been able to stay at
their school.
Another person helped by ARC was MARGARET** who was
deeply depressed when her marriage broke down after 34 years. She
doesn’t drive and in a village with no shop and practically no local
activities, she found it difficult to meet people and was desperately lonely
– until, through ARC, Margaret was put in touch with the local church. Now,
one of the church congregation visits her regularly and takes her to coffee
mornings where she is slowly making new friends.
That’s how ARC
works – giving people like Robert and Margaret new hope. Over the years ARC
has set up services wherever they are most needed: to help provide housing,
training, local facilities – like post offices in church halls and low-cost
computers for youth groups and the WI - and they care for the most
vulnerable people in rural society.
Here in the UK we owe our
farming communities so much – so please help the Arthur Rank Centre to help
them. Make a donation today by calling 0800 404 8144. That’s
0800 404 8144. Or you could send a cheque, payable to the Arthur Rank
Centre, to FREEPOST, BBC RADIO 4 APPEAL. That’s FREEPOST, BBC RADIO 4
APPEAL. Please mark the back of your envelope Arthur Rank Centre.
Thank you – and God bless.
