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Bishop Pledges Prayers for Farming Community

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has promised the support of the church to the farming community caught up in the latest outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

by Maria Mackay
Posted: Thursday, August 9, 2007, 12:10 (BST)
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The Government has eased restrictions on animal movements put into place after the latest outbreak, although the European Union has moved to extend its ban on British meat and livestock exports.

Some 200 cows have been slaughtered since the highly contagious virus was confirmed on two farms last Friday.

Local clergy and rural chaplains are already working in partnership with the Farm Crisis Network to provide pastoral care and support to farmers directly affected by the protection zone around the Surrey farm and research laboratories being investigated as possible sources of the outbreak.

Farmers are also receiving support, including financial assistance, from the Arthur Rank Centre (ARC), a partnership between the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the national churches and the Rank Foundation, the churches rural resources unit.

"Financial hardship is a real concern, particularly among farmers who were expecting to sell stock about this time and in such a difficult year following the recent severe weather," said Dr Jill Hopkinson, the Church of England's National Rural Officer.

The ARC-Addington Fund is prioritising financial support for farmers affected by the floods but has promised to monitor the situation with concern, before taking a final decision on Monday 13 August on the availability of hardship grants relating directly to foot and mouth.

The Rt Rev Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford, in whose diocese the outbreak was reported, said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the farmers, the people at Wanborough, Wyke, Elstead and Wood Street and all involved in investigating and containing this outbreak both locally and at a wider level.

"Having seen the impact of foot and mouth at close hand in Staffordshire in 2001, I am aware of its enormous emotional and practical costs and the terrible isolation of those in the communities affected."

The Church of England has issued prayers for the farming community which can be accessed on the Church of England website at www.cofe.anglican.org/prayers/.



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