Farmer, former High Sheriff of Dorset and chairman of many Bridport groups and charities, George Streatfeild, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

He was awarded the prestigious honour for services to the food industry and the community in Bridport, but insists it was a team effort.

He said: "I was really chuffed, delighted and surprised - you never expect it.

"I am really honoured but everything you do is part of a team and involvement with other people - whether that has been in the community or food industry.

"It has been brilliant to have been a part of the evolution of the food industry, from the 1980s when people ate to fuel themselves to now with people having an interest and passion in the quality of the food, the people who make it and produce it and that's all part of what I've been involved with, which is really rewarding."

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

"Denhay Farms was a traditional farmhouse cheese maker and then we went into bacon curing and airdried ham, so therefore I got involved in food groups and my wife, Amanda, and I set up Dorset Harvest, an early days county food group."

There were other similar food groups around so they merged and formed Taste of the West.

"I was a director of that for many years and I chaired it for a period, which was great and that was really when you went to trade fairs, events, promoted products and the whole concept of high quality, artisan food and it has been a brilliant career. I have worked with and met so many fantastic people.

"In the early 1980s when I was getting involved in the food industry, I was also involved with the environment and I was vice-chairman of Dorset Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and I had to make the decision whether I would stay and get involved with the environment or whether I was going to get involved with the food industry. But I am now starting to go back to the environment so it's quite fun to go back to where I started."

TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK IN THE COMMUNINTY

"In the 1990s, there was a brilliant government scheme called the Market and Coastal Town Initiative and that was designed to regenerate market and coastal towns. We got very involved and I ended up chairing it."

Mr Streatfeild said that although it was very good, it didn't end up achieving a great deal, but it paved the way for a number of great things in Bridport.

"I would say it was the point in which Bridport really got the community spirit behind it.

"There are various things that are key to Bridport's success, one of which is having a succession of really good town clerks, another is having an outstanding town surveyor who doesn't know how to say no, and it is also the people and getting people involved and the understanding that it's not just those who live in Bridport, but it's those who move to Bridport, we need new talent, we need new time. Bridport has so many people moving into it and it allows us to grow."

Mr Streatfeild has also been chairman of governors at Symondsbury Primary School, chairman of Bridport Museum trustees and chairman of the Symene Community Land Trust.

"Again, you're dealing with teams of people and people who are committed, who really want to make these work.

"At Symondsbury School, it's amazing, as a chairman you've only got to do one right thing and that's appoint the right headteacher. We appointed Emma who is outstanding.

"I am also the co-founder of Discover Farming. Marcus Beresford and I established that under the Melplash Agricultural Society and was designed to enthuse and inspire young people to consider a career in the countryside, but also to make people aware of where their food comes from - and that's been great fun.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR YEAR AS HIGH SHERIFF

"It was a really good year - it was really challenging.

"Normally the High Sheriff will go to civic functions and there are 23 towns in Dorset and every town will probably have three civic functions, so that's 70 to go to before you go to anything else, and of course, none of them happened.

"I had a lot of help from Dorset Community Foundation, which is a brilliant charity, so I contacted charities, I went and saw charities, I went into prisons, talked to the probation service and met them, I went to courts.

"The role of the High Sheriff is to take an interest in the criminal justice system. I tried to go and see the border force but I got stopped by the police as it was too risky from a Covid point of view unfortunately.

"Then you get involved with charities that are helping people coming out of prison and also charities that are preventing people falling into the criminal justice system, and that included anything from food banks to domestic abuse and county lines.

"My final act was to produce a 10-minute film about county lines, which is pretty dark viewing."

Unable to bring charities together, Mr Streatfeild also produced a booklet, highlighting the work of the Dorset's charities and groups.

WHAT'S NEXT?

"I'm getting more involved with the environment. What we're doing on the farm is going to be different, we'll be encouraging wildlife and changing the way we farm to farm more sensibly for the environment and I will get more involved with that."

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