Save Soil cycling activist group stopping off in Shropshire on UK-wide campaign
Volunteers of the Save Soil movement will be stopping off in Shropshire this week on their Cycle for Soil 900-mile bicycle journey across the UK and Ireland.
The cyclists, who include 17-year old Oscar Smith, are stopping off at Soulton Hall near Wem on Tuesday and will visit the hall's Long Barrow before talking to leading UK soil expert Dr Simon Jeffrey from Harper Adams University.
Save Soil’s aim is to raise awareness of the global soil crisis, inspire grassroots support, and speak to governments about the urgent need for soil health policies.
It highlights the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's warning that we may have only 60 years of fertile agricultural soil left with, in parts of the UK, 30-40 years before the fundamental eradication of soil fertility.
Soulton Hall is a pre-Norman manor house, constructed between 1556 and 1560.
The Long Barrow on the land has been built by Tim Ashton from the hall who wanted to create a spiritual place, connected deeply with the earth and soil it is built upon.
The event, between 2pm and 3.30pm, will also include work from multi-disciplinary poet Gabriel Jones. His work has appeared in the Albany, Barbican and Roundhouse venues, and on stages at Brainchild, Bestival and Lovebox. He was a BBC world's first poet (2020) and a Roundhouse resident artist in 2018.
A spokesperson for Save Soil said: "Join volunteers from the Save Soil movement on the Cycle for Soil campaign as they aim to bring visibility across the UK to the crisis occurring beneath our feet."
