The Farming Community Network’s (FCN) popular children’s book Sir Port, designed to help children in rural communities develop resilience skills and a positive approach to change, will launch in Welsh at this year’s Royal Welsh Show (18-21 July).
Copies of the Welsh-language version of Sir Port, titled ‘Y ci positif CEF NOGI a’r llifogydd dychrynllyd’, are available for the first time to families attending the Royal Welsh Show (18-21 July) on the FCN stand, based in the National Sheep Association Pavilion. The charity requests a donation of around £5 for a copy of the book, if you plan on picking up a copy at the Royal Welsh Show.
The book has been developed by FCN and New Zealand author Pauline McLeod and is supported by the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust.
The book follows the adventures of Sir Port, the beloved family dog, during a particularly heavy flood that causes havoc on the farm.
The story focuses on three generations of the family – the son, Oliver; his mother and father; and their Granny – and shows how they respond during the flood, taking care of their animals and focusing on a brighter day tomorrow when the sun rises again.
The book has been developed in response to changes across agriculture – including transformative policy changes, the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and climate change – to help young children understand the stress uncertainty can cause families and help them develop a positive way of interpreting this.
It also encourages children to keep a ‘Joy Jar’ and fill it with positive thoughts, feelings and memories that bring them comfort. In reading this story together parents, families and children have created their own Joy Jars, filling it with positive actions that give them a jolt of joy.
Parents often pick up on the message by reading this story to their children and introduce a Joy Jar as part of a daily or weekly habit.
Since launching in English in late 2021, over 2,000 copies of the book have been circulated to the farming community.