A group set up to raise funds for charities, including the Air Ambulance and St Michael’s Hospice, by a Ross-on-Wye father and daughter team, has raised over £130,000 since 2012 and this includes the £40,000 they raised this year alone.

When local farmer, Ian Pugh was asked by his family, in 2012, how he intended to celebrate his 70th birthday he said it would be good to reunite the Merry Millers, a cricket team he had belonged to 47 years before. The men played friendly cricket matches during the summer on Garway Common and at the end of the season enjoyed a dinner with their wives and families. The social aspect grew until the annual event attracted between 300 and 400 people. Ian’s daughter, Janey Cotten, told the Ross Gazette that it was a way for busy famers and their families to socialise until the group finished as the men felt they were getting too old to play cricket.

Janey helped her dad to organise their first dinner dance and auction resurrecting the Merry Millers, and decided that, as so many of the original Merry Millers, or their families, had needed hospital treatment or support that they would make it a fund-raising opportunity too.

The 70th birthday was such a success that they did it again the following year and in the first two years Janey told the Gazette they had raised almost £30,000.

They then decided to hold the event every two years as it involved a great deal of organising, but there have been other events in between such as a Race Day at Chepstow Race Course which raised several thousand pounds. Janey told the Gazette that they could not have achieved so much without her mum, Eira, or the support of her husband, Simon Cotten and at the first events her sister, Lyny, sang after the meal. She said it is really good fun but a lot of work. The family theme continued at this year’s event as Ian was joined by his daughter, Lyny her son and his six-week-old baby boy, and the four generations enjoyed what Ian has said will be the last charity dinner, dance and auction.

This year their target was £10,000 for the event which was held on May 3rd at the Three Counties Hotel, Hereford, however, this target was reached before the event took place thanks to the generosity of farmer who donated livestock for auction and the eight auctioneers who sold off the stock at markets, including Ross-on-Wye, where Ian, who is self-employed has an office.

Ian told the Ross Gazette: “The response to the plea was tremendous and overwhelming. Without the support of the auctioneers (who waived their commission and set aside ‘Merry Millers’ livestock pens each week), the farmers who donated (animals and cheques), and the farmers who paid over the odds for the animals, it would not have been possible.”

Thousands more was raised at the evening, which was attended by over 330 farmers and friends and was a great success. Janey added that it was like a reunion for Young Farmers as there were so many different ages present. There were attendees from eight different counties, such is the pulling power of the Merry Millers.

A delicious meal at the Three Counties Hotel was followed by a raffle which raised £1,987. Many items sold well in excess of their value including a two-night stay at Salcombe Harbour Hotel which sold for £1000, lunch for eight at the Angel Hotel, Abergavenny £1,500, two Wales vs France rugby tickets £620. The evening was rounded off with entertainment by the ABBA Stars UK tribute band.

Janey said that they do not yet have the final total as people keep donating more, Ian added: “Collectively we must feel so proud with what we have done together and that includes all our supporters. We have not only smashed our target of £10k, but £20k, then £30k and now £40k. Just staggering. And the monies keep on coming.”

He thanked everyone who has supported the Merry Millers over the years including the main sponsors The Wye Valley Group.

The money raised this year will be donated to Velindre Cancer Centre (Cardiff), St Michael’s Hospice (Hereford), Heart and Lung Department, and MacMillan Renton Unit at Hereford County Hospital plus some smaller local charities which are very powerful in their own right, and just as needy.

Janey said they try to cover charities on both sides of the border as their supporters came from both areas.

Ian is now looking forward to the farming awards at the Three Counties Showground as he has been shortlisted for a farming hero award for his fund-raising but also for the contribution he has made to bringing farmers together.See the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition here