Did you ever dream of meeting a prince???
HRH Prince Charles recently visited Australia and four of our Young Farming Champions met him and had the opportunity to speak with him and share their passion for agriculture
Today I am reproducing a post from Art4Agriculture Wool Young Farming Champion Sammi Townsend’s blog Youth in Agtion. In November last year Sammi was given the opportunity along with three other Art4Agriculture Wool Young Farming Champions to meet and talk to HRH Prince Charles on his recent trip to Australia. One behalf of Art4Agriculture I would like to say a special thanks to Australian Wool Innovation for the amazing opportunities and doors they have opened for their 2012 Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions and we are thrilled they have indicated they are on board again for 2013
Why I Flocked To Sydney This Weekend… 11th November 2012
I was privileged enough to shake hands and mingle with The Prince of Wales who was on one of the final legs of his Australian Tour last week. HRH, who is the Patron for Campaign for Wool, joined wool growers, designers and even 3 merino wethers at an exclusive event atop of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
Left to Right: Art4Ag Young Farming Champions Lauren Crothers, Sammi Townsend and Steph Grills
On the day I proudly sported a woollen garment by local designer Michelle Kent, who is the owner of the boutique label “So Stella” based in Orange.
Founded in 2004 the NSW based fashion business, which offers customers handmade as well as tailor made services, has developed from a business model that has kept a social conscience and integrity at its core. I was most certainly proud to be representing my industry with wool and at the same time supporting a lovely local business!
The event was hosted by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) who kindly invited me as a young wool ambassador to the event to represent the education sector as a part of the Art4Agriculture program. Just as HRH has a role as a Patron for Campaign for Wool to educate people about the versatility of wool in fashion, furnishings and everyday life, my role is to inform Australian metropolitan school students about the agricultural industry with a focus on wool.
Not only did I shake hands with Prince Charles, but also took great pleasure in chatting to him about what the Art4Agriculture program is about. It was a wonderful opportunity to sum up our key messages and inform him of the great things happening in our industry at the moment such as the School’s Merino Wether and Fibre of Our Nation competitions.
Amongst the small crowd present were many designers such as Josh Goot, Dion Lee, Kym Ellery, Camilla Freeman-Topper (of Camilla and Marc) as well as Akira Isogawa who proudly showcased their woollen creations.
Above: One of Kym Ellery’s Designs
A lot of attention was also attracted to the three North Ashrose merino wethers who had travelled 18 hours from South Australia to be displayed at the event.
After the event had wrapped up I made my way to the AWI head office where we mingled over lunch with some key AWI staff who then proceeded to give a number of interesting presentations about their strategic framework, research and development and the marketing of wool.
I have been privileged as a young wool ambassador with AWI and Art4Agriculture and most certainly have been able to broaden my networks and establish many connections beyond my own agricultural community thanks to their support. They have given me the confidence to share my story in agriculture so far as well as one of the oldest industries Australia has built itself upon, none other than the wool industry.