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Farming people in their more senior years are being are being invited to take part in a new Plough On group in the Angus area.

The first meeting will be held at Inverarity Church Hall on Monday, October 6.

Through organised events, talks and trips, the Plough On scheme encourages retirement-age farming folk to get out and about.  It also give group members opportunities to share their thoughts and memories, or highlight any worries.

The new Angus get-together, organised by the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI), are aimed at people of retirement age who have worked in agriculture.

They follow successful trials in south-west Scotland and Northern Ireland.  There was also a Plough On Christmas lunch at Glamis Castle in December.

RSABI chief executive Carol McLaren said: “Our Plough On festive lunch, kindly hosted by Strathmore Estates at Glamis Castle, provided us with a lot of encouragement that an initiative like this is very much needed for our industry’s much-valued senior members.

“Feedback from the event confirmed many older farming people would love to get out and about more, and particularly enjoy time with other like-minded farming folk.

“We are, therefore, delighted to be offering this opportunity for retirement-age people in Angus to get together and inform us of what they would like arranged by way of events and activities through the year.”

The new group is part of a 12-month pilot, consisting of regular gatherings in the Angus area.  There is no cost to participants for taking part.

A number of social meetings throughout the year will be planned.

These will include farm-related visits and activities, as well as more opportunities to meet and enjoy the company of others who share similar interests.

Spaces are expected to book up quickly, so those who are interested in joining the Angus Plough On group should go online to https://www.rsabi.org.uk/plough-on/ to complete a short form.

A member of the RSABI team will get in touch.

For more information about the initiative, call 07587 822711 or email ploughon@rsabi.co.uk

RSABI offers free practical, financial and emotional support, including counselling services.

The charity’s free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234555 (calls will not show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on the RSABI website.

This article appeared in The Courier on 17 September 2025