Presteigne schoolboy organised a mini-march in solidarity with farmers
A Presteigne schoolboy who couldn’t get to London to take part in the farmers’ protest, organised his own mini-march to school to show solidarity
Over 40 children and parents took part in eight year-old Dougie Powell’s march, wearing their wellies with pride and carrying homemade banners.
Dougie from Old Radnor wanted to go to London with his uncle Kevin Stokes who works on the family beef, sheep and arable farm in the Golden Valley.
The youngster loves working on the farm, particularly riding on the tractors and he is keen to help with the sheep and cattle.
His mum Lorraine said: “He is a great help, it’s his dream to be a farmer.”
But unable to go to London, Dougie invited his friends to join him on foot, bike or pedal tractor to march from the Memorial Hall to Presteigne Primary School.
Lorraine added: “He then left it open for anyone to join him, after chatting to headteacher David Lewis to see if they could all wear wellies.About 50 turned up which was great and Dougie was delighted.”
Mr Lewis said; “It was lovely to see them all coming in with their banners and in their wellies. As a community school this issue is important to our community. We are surrounded by farms and lots of our children come from farming families.
“We felt it was important to give Dougie a voice, as he is passionate about the issue. It was important for us as a school to show our support to the pupil although not necessarily the cause, because we are not a political school.”
Farmers from all over the area were attending the protest in London over changes to inheritance tax.
From April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20%, half the usual rate.
The government says it will only affect the wealthiest 500 estates each year but the NFU and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have estimated up to 70,000 farms could be affected.
