King Charles III officially opens the MacRobert Farming and Rural Skills Centre at Dumfries House in Cumnock. .
The multimillion-pound centre, in planning since 2019, will give students practical training on either day visits or residential courses, as well as training farmers on improving sustainability. Marcel Emmery, 15, from Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, has no connection with farming but is enjoying learning new skills.Marcel said: “It was exciting meeting the King. He was really interested in the project and asked us lots of questions.“He was asking us about soil samples and what were were working on.“It’s a really good insight into jobs, and I like working with animals.
The centre has capacity to train 1,800 participants a year and was funded by The MacRobert Trust, a grant-making charity based in Aberdeenshire. “It tends to be children who aren’t engaged with school and maybe aren’t reaching their full potential, bringing them out here gives them the chance to be very practical and hands on.”