We thank everyone who made our first Rural Week at Askham Bryan College near York possible as we seek to increase our capacity by delivering Rural Weeks in the South West at Bicton College and in the North at Askham Bryan.

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Serving military personnel and veterans take part in the first HighGround ‘Rural Week’ at Askham Bryan College

Serving military personnel and veterans are exploring employment opportunities in the land-based sector, thanks to a HighGround ‘Rural Week’ being piloted at Askham Bryan College.

The week-long programme is being run in partnership with the HighGround charity, which aims to prepare participants for life beyond the military.

Based at the Poppy Factory in London, HighGround helps service leavers and veterans to find jobs, careers and vocational opportunities in the land-based sector.

Participants are staying on campus in York in the College’s residential accommodation and attending talks provided by industry experts from a wide range of vocational specialisms including agriculture, arboriculture, horticulture and animal management.

The pilot programme, which is taking place from 12th to 17th November 2023, also includes multiple industry visits to places such as the National Pig Centre, York Racecourse, York Arboretum and Askham Bryan Wildlife and Conservation Park.

Askham Bryan College is a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant which provides businesses, educational institutions and charities with an opportunity to publicly express their support for the armed forces community.

Signing the Covenant demonstrates that the College recognises the value of serving personnel, veterans and military families to the wider community and country.

Katie Rowland, Curriculum Area Manager, Commercial, Askham Bryan College, said: “We are extremely proud and delighted to work with the HighGround charity. As a specialist land-based education provider, we offer education and training opportunities to people from all kinds of backgrounds including those with links to the military.”

Anna Baker Cresswell, Founder, HighGround, said: “It’s a huge milestone for HighGround in our 10th year to be delivering our first pilot Rural Week at Askham Bryan College this week to build on the success of our Rural Weeks programme at Bicton College in Devon.”

“Increasing our capacity so we can help more service leavers and veterans who don’t want to work in an office when they rejoin ‘civvy street’ is hugely important to HighGround, and military experience maps so perfectly into the land-based sector where motivation, teamwork, flexibility and hard work often in challenging conditions are highly prized. We offer our grateful thanks to all those who have helped us reach this milestone and look forward to working with Askham Bryan College as we start our second decade.”

Askham Bryan College, which is Ofsted graded ‘good’, is an award-winning specialist land-based college that has approximately 3,850 students and apprentices based at five sites in the North of England.

The College focuses on sustainable food production, environmental conservation and outdoor activity based education and offers full and part-time further and higher education programmes.

Courses include agriculture, animal science and conservation, arboriculture and forestry, engineering, equine, horticulture, motorsport, uniformed public services, sports coaching and veterinary nursing. 

To find out more about our courses and upcoming open events on 25th November 2023 and 20th January 2024, please visit Askham Bryan College.

To read more about HighGround, please visit our news and media page on our website.

About Askham Bryan College

Askham Bryan College is an award-winning specialist land-based college that has approximately 3,850 students and apprentices based at five sites in the North of England. The College focuses on sustainable food production, environmental conservation and outdoor activity based education and offers full and part-time further and higher education programmes.

Courses include agriculture, animal science and conservation, arboriculture and forestry, engineering, equine, horticulture, motorsport, uniformed public services, sports coaching and veterinary nursing. Apprentices further their skills through work-based learning with the College’s many industry partners.

The College’s main campus is based near York. It has other campuses at Middlesbrough, Saltaire, Gateshead and Wakefield. Visit Askham Bryan College. Follow @AskhamBryanCollege on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok and @AskhamBryan on X (formerly known as Twitter).

About HighGround

• HighGround is a registered charity established in 2013 to improve the wellbeing and employment prospects of serving personnel and veterans using the green environment. The Charity does this in two ways:
  1. By providing advice and support to serving personnel and veterans about jobs, careers and vocational opportunities in the land-based sector with Rural Weeks at the core.
  2. The Charity is also proud to deliver the Horticultural Therapy service for injured serving personnel at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Stanford Hall.
• The Charity receives no statutory funding and relies entirely on grant-making trusts, corporate, and public donation to fund its work. HighGround is tri-service, has a national footprint and works with all ranks and ages. In 2022 HighGround delivered 994 sessions of Horticultural Therapy to 257 patients at DMRC from all three services. 127 service leavers and veterans benefitted from HighGround’s Rural Weeks programme.
• HighGround is a proud signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant (Silver Award) and member of Cobseo.
• See our Partners & Funders here and follow HighGround Charity on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter).

Media contacts:

Mary Hampshire, Public Relations Consultant, Askham Bryan College
Email: mary.hampshire@askham-bryan.ac.uk
Telephone: 07985 779078

Anna Baker Cresswell, Founder
HighGround
Email: anna@highground-uk.org