Tam O'Shanter Urban Farm holding 'come and see us' day

Taking place at the venue in Bidston on Sunday, January 15 from 10am-4pm, the 'come and see us' day will be a chance "to celebrate all we have done thus far and to prepare ourselves for 2023 and the challenges of rising costs".

Treasurer and trustee of the farm's Trust, Jo Wood MBE - whose father Harold Burns helped build Tam O'Shanter in the 1970s - told the Globe: "After a year that began in despair, we are immensely proud of the huge advances we have made in 2022.

"Our appeal last January for professionals to come and help us sustain, maintain and develop our beautiful urban farm, was heard.

"Within a few months we had developed a team of tough cookies with experience in leadership, teaching, fundraising, retail management, project management and charity and financial management to carry us through a challenging time.

Two of the farm's inhabitants

"Over the course of 2022 we have tackled everything that life has thrown at us, turning new Environmental Health regulations into opportunities for change, battling through Avian Flu, writing policies and procedures until the ink ran dry and even achieving new tenants for our much-loved café when our former tenants retired from the business."

"We have needed to invest heavily to stay on the right side of the law and can only begin to thank the many substantial and small but regular donors who have helped us make it this far.

"Special thanks has to go to the many local and national bodies for supplying a fireproof hay and straw store, building a new bin store, purchasing a new pig pen and completing our education centre.

"The latter allows us to do even more work with the many mainstream and specialist schools across Wirral that now attend the farm on a daily basis to learn about the animals, nature and the seasons of the year.

"We have also been able to take many students on work experience and extra mural studies placements.

"These young people are gaining valuable experience in a variety of areas that will give them vocational and life skills hard to duplicate in any other setting.

One of the farm's inhabitants

"We have created opportunities for youngsters too with our Farm Tots and Young Farmers activities and while we can afford the electricity, we will continue to run Stay and Play for the pre school children in The Barn.

"We hosted sell out events for Easter, Halloween and Christmas and we are already planning next Easter and our "paying of the rent" ceremony. We have painted, hammered nailed, built, dug, groomed and written!

"We could not have achieved all of this without our team of volunteers who give up their time, their energy and their expertise on a daily basis, whatever the weather – and we have seen both extremes this year as we all know.

"We are delighted that some of this years volunteers have left us for greater things, gaining experience and confidence in volunteering that has taken them into full time work, back to studies etc.

"We can now offer volunteer placements in admin support, archiving and recording, customer care and events management, educational support, horticulture and allotment development, conservation ranger, site maintenance, daily site and animal care."

"We would also love to see a sister group set up to support the staff and core team by running a 'Friends of The Farm' group.

"This group would possibly be best placed to seek out potential sponsors and supporters to help us in the years to come.

"To celebrate all we have done thus far and to prepare ourselves for 2023 and the challenges of rising costs, we are holding a "come and see us" day on Sunday January 15.

"Come and meet the team and find out about all the opportunities open to YOU to support our much-loved farm as volunteers, donors or simply as 'friends'.

"If you are unable to make this day but are still interested in becoming a volunteer, please get in touch for job roles and how to get involved.

"Help us 'Make tomorrow’s memories for today’s children'."