CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save a school farm in Maidstone have offered to find independent funding to keep it going.

The Friends of Astor of Hever School Farm are looking for sponsors who could help fund vet's bills, pay for livestock and feed and all the other expenses which the school, in Oakwood Park, currently foots.

Friends spokeswoman Gill Collins said: "The Friends group are working with organisations to come up with a plan to take financial responsibility for the farm away from the school."

Phillippa Stedman-Collins, Kent Young Farmers' Field Officer, said: "The Young Farmers in other school farm units take on the whole responsibility of the animals from purchase, veterinary care, feed and welfare themselves, through sponsorship and fund-raising. This would take the day-to-day financial burden away from the school."

The plans depend on whether the farm will be moved from its present position and stay open in the short term or simply close at the end of the year.

Supporters have also received a letter from Cllr Paul Carter (Con), Kent County Council's cabinet member for education standards and pupil services, in response to a 1,500-signature petition handed to him last month.

Mr Carter wrote: "The decision to raise further funding for the school by selling the farmland and looking to deliver the horticultural/land-based elements by other means will absolutely prove to be the best course of action."

But the Friends say this does not secure the farm's future in the short term.

Mrs Collins said: "We know that if it closes at the end of next summer, it will not reopen."

The Young Farmers Club has a website at www.astoryfc.com