The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) is celebrating 20 years of taking the ‘classroom to the countryside’ this June by travelling 600 miles to 12 Scottish Schools in a Highland Cow Massey Ferguson tractor, supplied by the Hamilton Ross Group, with the aim of raising £6,000.

RHET started educating the children of Scotland in 1999, teaching them where food comes from and the environment around them. Today, the RHET takes more than 16,500 children onto farms and estates throughout Scotland every academic year.

To help mark this milestone, George Lawrie, Chairman of the RHET board, is undertaking a tractor tour and visiting a school in each of the 12 schools in Countryside Initiative (CI) areas around Scotland. This will take place the week prior to the Royal Highland Show, starting off from the showground on the 12th of June and finishing back at the showground on the 19th of June. The planned route will cover around 600 miles with the aim of raising £10 for every mile travelled to the trust.

George Lawrie said: “I will be visiting 2 schools per day spending around 2 hours at each school. These visits will be about more than just a tractor as each individual CI will be bringing in volunteers to talk about farming in their area”.

To support this trip, farm machinery dealer the Hamilton Ross Group have supplied the RHET with a Massey Ferguson tractor designed to look like a Highland Cow from their Reekie Ltd Perth depot. Reekie Perth General Manager, Sam Mercer said: “We are delighted to support this fantastic fundraising initiative. The RHET provide young people with an invaluable understanding of and enthusiasm for Scottish agriculture and the countryside, something which is crucial to the future of our industry.”

Children from the 12 schools visited will be able to enter into a colouring competition and each school will be able to enter into a competition to name the tractor. Both competitions will be judged by the Hamilton Ross Group and Massey Ferguson. The colouring competition winners will win a set of colouring pencils and the winning school from the name the tractor competition will receive a RHET farm visit.

In addition to the tractor, Allison Enterprises and the Binn Group, both of Glenfarg, are supplying a trailer that will be used to carry a Highland cow sculpture made from recycled farm metal by Kev Paxton of ArtFe, that will be auctioned later this year. Ringlink and Scottish Fuel are supplying diesel for the tour.

George added: “We are indebted to the generosity of these companies allowing us to undertake this tour. Please follow our Facebook page to hear when other companies sign up their support. You can also check out our JustGiving page to pledge your support and help us with the challenge of raising £10 for every mile travelled.”

Look out for the tractor when it hits the road next week! Follow our Facebook and Twitter for updates.