Latest news with #SamForsyth
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Cambridgeshire young farmers compete for best straw sculpture
Straw bale sculptures of tractors, animals and a combine harvester have been created by young farmers as part of an annual competition. Five Cambridgeshire groups are competing against each other, inspired by this year's theme - Back British is part of a publicity drive for the Cambridgeshire County Show, which is a traditional country event organised by the county's young farmers. County chairman Sam Forsyth, 25, said they hoped to "educate the public and show them how hard farmers work". "A lot of our members do feel quite passionately about what's going on and are impacted by the changes in farming recently," the quantity surveyor said. The Cambridgeshire County Show is the farmers' biggest fundraiser and is returning to the Abbots Ripton Estate, near Huntingdon, for the second time, on 31 May. It has existed for more than 20 years and used to be held at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall Forsyth said: "It's bigger, we've got more trade stands, we've pre-sold more tickets and we've got livestock and live farming equipment displays this year." Cambridgeshire Young Farmers has five branches that take part in the straw bale sculpture rural youth charity, which is aimed at anyone who enjoys the countryside regardless of their farming background, has seen its membership grow by about 15% in Cambridgeshire recently. "We've got our highest level of membership - 175 members - since I joined five years ago," Mr Forsyth said. Members, who are aged up to 28, compete against each other with challenges, including public speaking and also compete against other county young farmer groups, and currently Cambridgeshire's women's netball and men's football groups are the eastern regional champions. There are 581 Young Farmers' Clubs in England and Wales. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Revolt over Labour ‘rat tax' as Birmingham councillor quits
A Birmingham councillor has quit the Labour Party over a 'rat tax' on residents blighted by the ongoing bin strike crisis. Cllr Sam Forsyth quit Sir Keir Starmer's party on Tuesday in protest over locals being charged for using council pest controllers. Cllr Forsyth, who represents the western suburb of Quinton, had been suspended by the council's Labour group last month after not supporting budget proposals, put forward by the council's Labour leadership, which included £149 million of savings. The streets of England's second city have been plagued by rats amid growing mountains of uncollected waste after hundreds of Unite members walked out in a row with the Labour-run council. She told a Birmingham city council meeting that the newly-enforced £24.60 pest control charge was 'completely unpalatable'. 'My opposition to the introduction of that charge is well known, and I stuck to my principles on it,' she said. 'Principle may be something that is a stranger to some people in this chamber, but it is not to me. 'I opposed that charge, it is not a decision I regret, and as of ten minutes ago I am no longer a member of the Labour Party.' Council pest control services were free for all Birmingham residents until the charges for 'rat in garden and rat in house treatments' were brought in last year. The bin strike is now in its fifth week, and more than 20,000 tonnes of household rubbish are believed to be piled on the city's streets. The council has been forced to declare a major incident after residents claimed some neighbourhoods were being plagued by rats 'as big as small cats'. Speaking outside the chamber about what has been called the 'rat tax', she said: 'I thought it was an extremely bad, short-sighted idea, particularly as we are in the middle of a bin strike. 'I didn't come into politics to make life any harder for poor people, because I know what that is like. That is what I experienced growing up. Maybe because I experienced rats around growing up, that is why this is so important to me. 'Life is about compromise but this was one thing I couldn't compromise on. Rats frighten people, they carry diseases, people are uncertain what to do, and it's just not something we should be lax about.' '21,000 tonnes of rubbish' The resignation came after a man appeared at a council meeting dressed as a rat to shame Labour over the bin strike on Tuesday. The unidentified man asked officials when they planned to collect the rubbish. 'Given reports of 21,000 tonnes of rubbish on our street, by what date does the council think it will have reduced the backlog, reduced the rat population and return our streets to an acceptable state?' he asked Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for the environment. The man later told the BBC: 'Selly Oak has a huge amount of rubbish, especially from students, and it means that all my relatives can feed in a way that means we can go around and rampage in the streets – it's great.'
