Farmer who lost £31k after mart closure receives donations

Hundreds of people have donated to help Ben Paterson following the collapse of Beeston livestock market last week (Photo: Blackthorn Farm Equestrian/Facebook)
Hundreds of people have donated to help Ben Paterson following the collapse of Beeston livestock market last week (Photo: Blackthorn Farm Equestrian/Facebook)

Thousands have been raised to help a young farmer get back on his feet after he lost over £31,000 due to the sudden closure of Beeston livestock market.

More than £11,000 has been donated via an online fundraiser within just three days to help 28-year-old Cheshire farmer Ben Paterson.

Ben took on several loans to purchase 60 calves to rear as part of a new business he was venturing into.

According to his mum Louise, he did 'nothing but graft' for two years so he could build a future for his young family.

Posting on the Blackthorn Farm Equestrian Facebook page, she said that Ben even had a milking job at 4am to 8am.

And after that, he had to rush home so he could take on babysitting duties for his 16-month old daughter.

“He couldn’t afford a haulier so he went back and forth for two days delivering his calves to Beeston Wright and Marshall, making sure they were not stressed and comfortable ready for the usual sale on Thursday,” Louise said.

“As I said he did us proud. Best calves of the day. All 60 sold.

“Finally Ben had done it. He had managed to earn enough to buy the next months feed in hand. Things were finally looking up.”

Last Wednesday (27 June), rural auctioneers Wright Marshall entered administration following a 'period of challenging trading'.

The mart at Beeston Castle, where Ben sent his calves to, has now closed down.

The auctioneer also blamed a downturn in livestock volumes being sold through the rural auction mart.

Louise continued: “What we learnt a week later when we still had no money from Beeston was the banks had pulled the plug.

“They had a million pound overdraft and now they had shut them down which meant one thing - we could not get paid.”

She said Ben 'owes too much to start again': “My son and his girlfriend are hard workers and will manage somehow to put food on the table for their little girl who is 16 months old, because that’s what you do.

“It’s the mental health and pressure of us all that has been affected.”

Over 550 people have donated more than £11,300 as of Tuesday 2 July on the GoFundMe page.