NFU Scotland’s President, Nigel Miller was delighted to present a cheque for £2,750 today to the John Fyfe of the war veterans’ charity, Erskine House.

Erskine is Scotland’s foremost care organisation for ex-Service men and women and has been looking after our veterans for nearly a century.

The money was raised by NFU Scotland and NFU Mutual as part of a recruitment drive which took place on 11 November 2011. Around 30 teams of NFUS staff, members and office bearers recruited 109 members with the Union and NFU Mutual promising to contribute a total of £25 for each farmer that signed up for NFUS membership.

NFU Scotland’s President, Nigel Miller said:

“Scotland’s farming and rural communities have long been intertwined with the war effort, with the Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps becoming firmly embedded during WWII. The importance of feeding our troops and keeping domestic food supplies secure became increasingly clear as people endured exceptional circumstances and the nation’s borders and waters were under attack.

“The two great wars of the twentieth century defined much of the activity that NFUS is involved with to this day: the establishment of a Europe-wide policy, the CAP, that would drive a secure supply of food for all EU citizens and greatly modernised production to achieve this are the two great characteristics of Scottish and European farming today.

“Erskine House provides an incredible service for the men and women who fought in those two world-changing wars and who have fought on our nation and other nations’ behalf since. The great characteristic of the most recent conflicts we have been involved in is that they have taken place in countries far away from our shores and we often have little idea of what our servicemen and women have experienced. Erskine’s extraordinary work is as relevant as it ever was and I know that Scotland’s farmers’ and crofters’ appreciation of the work that Erskine does is embodied in the donation we have made today.

“On a wider basis, our continued work to establish a memorial to the work of the Women’s Land Army in Scotland has seen the first turf cut at the Crown Estate’s Clochan site, with a sculpture by artist Peter Naylor due to be unveiled in Spring 2012.”                  

• A photograph of the presentation will be available after 3pm on Tuesday 20 December.

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Contact Sarah Anderson on 0131 472 4108