Rebecca Hill, who farms in Barnham Broom, between Norwich and Watton, came up with the idea to honour her late husband David Allen, who tragically took his own life 20 years ago.
To raise the profile of mental health issues within agriculture, she decided to promote East Anglian rural mental health charity YANA (You Are Not Alone) on her 1987 Ford 8210 tractor – the same model David was driving when they first met.
She recruited her friend, Great Yarmouth-based artist Emily Hartley Booth, to paint the logo on both the tractor and her Land Rover.
Spending countless hours driving in the countryside, Mrs Hill said this was a perfect way to keep David’s memory alive while highlighting the support now available to isolated rural communities – as well as spreading the message that it is vitally important for farmers to talk.
Norfolk farmer David Allen, who died in 2004, pictured with his spaniel Widget (Image: Supplied) “Because I’m on the tractor a lot, and I’m in the rural community all the time, I thought if someone saw these signs they could just ring and speak to someone and it might just help,” she said.
“It is a simple message, but it might just strike someone who is struggling, or knows someone who is struggling for whatever reason.
“They had done a new logo for YANA with a dog and a gentleman who looked just like a silhouette of David. I had got to know Emily and seen her work, and that is where it started.”
The YANA (You Are Not Alone) mental health charity logo (Image: Denise Bradley) David Allen died in 2004 at the age of 38 – four years before the formation of YANA in 2008.
Mrs Hill said the mounting financial, climate and policy pressures on farmers made the charity’s support services and counselling more important than ever.
“It is needed now more than ever, absolutely,” she said. “It is a difficult time for farmers.
“Farmers love their job. It is a way of life, but with all the pressures they are under, it takes away their passion for farming.
“I do feel that since YANA started, people definitely talk a lot more about mental health. It is more acceptable to talk about it, whereas 20 years ago it wasn’t. I think part of David’s problem was that he felt he couldn’t talk about it.
“He worked so hard and he was a practical man, he could not understand what was happening in his head. We knew something was happening, and on the outside he was saying he was OK, but he obviously wasn’t.
“He would say there was this fog – you go down this hole and couldn’t get out of it. Our doctor was really good but we couldn’t do enough to help him, and I wanted someone else to come and help me to help him.
“He said he had had it all his life, but he kept pushing it away, that is why it consumed him. It is difficult to explain.
“Not being afraid to talk about it is the biggest thing. Now it is really good to see farmers talking to each other.
“It does not take much. You just have to step into that conversation, don’t be afraid to do it.”
Rebecca Hill and her spaniel Jessica with the YANA mental health charity logo on her vintage Ford tractor at her farm in Barnham Broom (Image: Denise Bradley) Mrs Hill re-married in 2014 and now runs the family’s 300-acre arable farm with her husband Sam.
Artist Emily Hartley Booth said she wanted to help support the mental health charity, having attempted to take her own life when she was 29.
After witnessing the impact on her family, she sought help and treatment – and now art is one of the ways she manages her depression and anxiety, while aiming to inspire hope in others.
Rebecca Hill with her spaniel Jessica and artist Emily Hartley Booth, by the YANA mental health charity logo on a vintage Ford tractor at her farm in Barnham Broom (Image: Denise Bradley) “After seeing the effect on my family, I just really felt for Rebecca,” she said. “I wanted to get involved and share the word that there is hope after it really. There are things that have helped me and I am so grateful now.
“I thought it would be quite cool to paint on a tractor. With depression, I see things losing their colour when I feel inside that cloud, so to go from that to wanting to put the colour back in – it is an amazingly powerful message that you are not alone.”
YANA (You Are Not Alone) offers confidential mental health support and counselling for people in the farming and rural industries. The charity can be contacted via its helpline 0300 323 0400, yanahelp.org or helpline@yanahelp.org.