Ministers put their Best ‘Boot’ Forward in First Wellies to Work Day

The campaign saw workers across Northern Ireland get suited and welly-booted in support of the charity.

The Twitter campaign encouraged supporters to wear welly boots to work and upload photographs of themselves with the hashtag #WelliesToWork. 

Aimed at raising awareness of farming charity, Rural Support, and the services that it provides, the campaign was backed by the charity’s CSR partner, wind energy company, Simple Power. The successful awareness campaign flooded Twitter timelines with thousands engaging on Friday 5th June.

Northern Ireland’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Michelle O’Neill was pictured swapping her heels for wellies to support the awareness-building initiative. The local agricultural community also got behind the campaign with great group shots of members of staff at Ulster Farmers’ Union, Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, Countryside Services and CAFRE all joining in on the fun.

Rural Support Chief Executive, Jude McCann, expressed his appreciation for all those who took part and emphasised the need for increased awareness of the charity throughout Northern Ireland: “With mounting pressure on farmers and new challenges facing the rural community, the need for our services is greater than ever. We launched this campaign to make more people aware that help is available through our dedicated helpline - 0845 606 7607. We would urge anyone from the farming and rural community who is struggling to cope to avail of this valuable service and speak to our highly experienced staff and volunteers. 

“We are delighted with the success of the first ‘Wellies to Work Day’ and are already looking forward to making it bigger and better next year. We are indebted to the team at Simple Power for their invaluable work in launching Wellies to Work for us as we mark our second year of a great CSR partnership”

Simple Power Chief Executive, Philip Rainey, added: “After two years of CSR partnership, it’s a great privilege to work with Rural Support on important campaigns that make a difference to the charity and ‘Wellies to Work Day’ was no exception. It’s a fun campaign but it has a very important message behind it.”  

Since 2002, Rural Support has been helping farming and rural families across Northern Ireland on a wide range of issues, from emotional distress, physical and mental health, farming paperwork and bureaucracy to the latest issues on CAP reform. 

Rural Support is working with its CSR partner, wind energy company, Simple Power, on campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of health and wellbeing in rural communities and farm families. Simple Power works in partnership with farmers across Northern Ireland and is committed to an on-going partnership with the local charity, providing financial support alongside awareness-raising and fundraising activities.