He went on to become chairman of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. His political career started out less ambitiously at Sedgemoor District Council but he went on to become Member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2009.Īfter being elected as an MP for Tiverton and Honiton at the 2010 general election, his interest in rural affairs and animal welfare became well known. Hundreds of years ago the school was the family home of John Pym, the famous parliamentarian who played a leading role in bringing about the downfall of Charles I during the English Civil War. This move could also have been inspired by Brymore. Mr Parish worked at the family farm, believed to be at East Huntspill near Highbridge on the Somerset Levels before going into politics.
Although it is classed as a state boarding school for boys aged between 13 and 17, only the the education is free so boarders, who currently make up over half the average 200 pupils, have to find around £12,000 a year to live there.Įven day pupils are expected to work on the 60 acre farm at the school which includes dairy and beef herds, sows, poultry and a flock of ewes.
Mr Parish attended the unusual school until he was 16 and then left to work on the family farm in Somerset. READ MORE: MP Neil Parish announces from Somerset home he's resigning after watching porn in Commons while looking for tractor website
School uniform includes overalls and steel toe capped boots and pupils are forbidden from wearing anything that might get caught in farm machinery.
It tells parents that it is the only one in the UK offering a vocational experience that exploits pupil's interest in agriculture, horticulture and technology.īoys have to be up at the crack of dawn to feed the animals and fit milking cows and growing food for the kitchen around traditional lessons. Now an Academy, the oversubscribed, small school boasts that practical duties are as important as academic lessons. The 65-year-old who has been forced to resign after admitting twice watching porn in the Commons attended the unique single sex Brymore School near Bridgwater, Disgraced MP Neil Parish went to a unique boys boarding school in Somerset where milking cows and learning about tractors was as important as lessons in English and Maths.