Fundraising sisters Hilary Raymond and Rosemary Rees won the Welsh regional prize at farming charity R.A.B.I’s annual awards ceremony in Oxfordshire last week.

More than 200 people attended R.A.B.I’s annual AGM/awards ceremony, including Lord Plumb, former president of the NFU, John Kinnaird, RSABI chairman, Nina Clancy, RSABI CEO and Charles Smith, CEO of the Farming Community Network. The speaker was Sarah Dunning OBE, whose farming family launched the highly-acclaimed Tebay Services and Gloucester motorway service stations.

As part of the Pembrokeshire ladies’ committee, the sisters help organise various events throughout the year, including fashion shows. R.A.B.I chairman Malcolm Thomas said: “They are both very busy people, but they place R.A.B.I first and foremost in their diaries.”

In 2016, R.A.B.I gave out grants of around £2.1 million to farming people in hardship in Wales and England and also helped people claim more than £287k in state benefits and tax credits.

Voluntary income is R.A.B.I’s chief source of funding and the charity has more than 50 county committees - including 12 in Wales - who work at a grass-roots level to raise funds and awareness.

Malcolm Thomas added: “Without our county committees, R.A.B.I would not be able to do the work it does. When you boil it right down you realise our organisation is full of people helping others just like themselves, who have been unlucky enough to fall on hard times.”