As Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) and the rest of the country are taking small steps towards slight ease in the members are still organising fun evenings to bring together their current members and stay in touch. Last week saw the turn of Cheadle YFC who hosted a talk by local vet, Hannah Fitzsimmonds of Lambert, Leonard and May.
Sarah Bourne, Club Chairlady of Cheadle YFC said “Last week Hannah gave us a talk about on ‘A life of a Staffordshire farm Vet’ talking about what it’s like to be a vet and then gave us a little talk about calf husbandry. We had lots of members attend the meeting, and it went down really well. Hannah gave us a really good inside of how she became a vet and what day to day life was like as a vet, answering any questions that we had and gave us lots of information about calf husbandry.”
Cheadle YFC was reformed back in 2017 and despite Covid 19, still managed to recruit over 25 active members in September who meet regularly on Zoom.
Staffordshire YFC has members aged 10 – 26 years across ten clubs in Staffordshire and helps to keep young people in many rurally isolated areas connected and provides a much-needed social life. Club meeting nights usually run on a weekly basis, with a wide range of activities available for members of all ages including sports, public speaking, cinema and bowling trips, quizzes and farm walks. Although not all members are from an agricultural background, the clubs in Staffordshire are based in rural communities and provide new skills and learning opportunities, for any young people, with an interest in rural life and activities. The Covid 19 situation has meant that Staffordshire YFC has had to adapt the youthwork service it provides to its members and clubs to an online delivery.
As Staffordshire YFC looks to the future, with the prospect of the lockdown easements over the summer, the federation hopes to be able to plan events to bring together members and rural community together at some of its competitions and social activities, taking into consideration, the latest covid guidance at the time.
Junior Speaking: 1st Eccleshall YFC; 2nd Uttoxeter JNFU
Intermediate Brainstrust: 1st Uttoxeter JNFU; 2nd Ashley YFC; 3rd Eccleshall YFC
Senior Debating: 1st Eccleshall B; 2nd Eccleshall B; 3rd Chase YFC
Good luck to all teams heading to West Midlands Area in April!
During last two weeks, Staffordshire YFC has delivered the second part of its County Public Speaking Competitions programme to members, using zoom. The popular competitions, which help to grow young members public speaking skills; effective listening, current affairs knowledge, confidence and communication, were kindly sponsored by B and B Tractors. Sara Paoloni from B and B Tractors said “We loved being a part the Staffordshire YFC Public Speaking Competitions and are very glad the event was a success for all members involved.” It was a first for Staffordshire YFC to host these kinds of competitions virtually, but was made easier by the use of zoom breakout rooms and members embracing their video cameras and microphones.
For the younger members of the federation, the Junior Speaking Competition was held, with teams from Eccleshall and Uttoxeter taking the first two placings. Members aged 10 – 16 years form teams who act as a Chairman, Speaker and Proposer of the Vote of Thanks. From Eccleshall YFC, Molly Sammons spoke as the main speaker and in Uttoxeter JNFU, Edward Townsend was the main speaker. Both members chose to share the same topic – A Year in Lockdown, with stories of their experiences with home schooling, setting up a local pop-up shop as well as life on the farm and what they missed the most. Eccleshall YFC were awarded first place, with Uttoxeter JNFU coming second.
The Intermediate members (aged 17 – 22 years) took part in the Intermediate Brainstrust Competition, where teams consist of a Chairman and a panel of three members. The Chairman is given six question topics, three of a general knowledge and three on rural affairs, from which they select three for discussion by the team. A lively debate ensues for 20 minutes, and this year topics included the “British Press and the Royal Family”; “Robotic Farming” and “Virtual GP Appointments for the future”. After the judge’s deliberations, the results were announced as Uttoxeter JNFU taking first place, Ashley YFC in second place and Eccleshall YFC in third place.
The senior members (aged 22 – 27 years) took part in the Debating Competition and this saw three very lively debates with very topical themes of “The combination of Coronavirus and Brexit gives the UK a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a more equal society”, “Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been neglected by the government during Covid19’ and “With climate change on the agenda and carbon neutral being the buzz words, all livestock farming should be banned”. After debates which lasted just over 35 minutes per topic, the overall results were Eccleshall B YFC in first place, Eccleshall A YFC in second place and Chase YFC in third place.
The first and second placed teams in these competitions will go forward to represent Staffordshire at the West Midlands Area Finals which are also being hosted by Staffordshire YFC on zoom in April.
The Public Speaking Competitions are a great example of the opportunities which all YFC members can get involved in, to develop their public speaking skills, take up new challenges and meet like-minded young people from across the county. Whilst Covid-19 has prevented the social interaction and practical competitions from taking place, Staffordshire YFC members have been determined to continue to deliver a programme of youthwork, with adapted competitions and activities to its members. This Wednesday evening sees Cheadle Young Farmers hosting the Club Night with a talk entitled “The Life of a Staffordshire Vet” for members from across the county to learn more about behind the scenes of farm visits and calf husbandry.
As Staffordshire YFC looks to the future, with the prospect of the lockdown easements over the summer, the federation hopes to be able to plan events to bring together members and rural community together at some of its competitions and social activities, taking into consideration, the latest covid guidance at the time
Whilst Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) are gearing up for the slight ease in lockdown and hoping to re-start covid-secure face to face outdoor meetings later this month, the members are still organising fun evenings to bring together their current members and stay in touch. This week saw the turn of Ashley YFC who created “The Ashley YFC Mash Up” consisting of six fun rounds of activities – A Marble Race, Scavenger Hunt and Kahoot Quiz which included rounds entitled “Where am I in the World?”; A Picture round and a Sports round.
Jack Salt, Club Chairman of Ashley YFC, who currently have 34 active members, said “I really enjoyed hosting the Ashley YFC Mash up this week. Everyone had a good time testing their brainpower and their legs. It was great to catch up with members from across Staffordshire after the meeting and see how we are all getting on too.”
After twenty members got stuck in on the night, the winning team was the Poynton Family from Eccleshall, closely followed by Kate Mollatt of Uttoxeter and in third place was Emily Cartmail of Eccleshall.
Staffordshire YFC has members aged 10 – 26 years across ten clubs in Staffordshire and helps to keep young people in many rurally isolated areas connected and provides a much-needed social life. Club meeting nights usually run on a weekly basis, with a wide range of activities available for members of all ages including sports, public speaking, cinema and bowling trips, quizzes and farm walks. Although not all members are from an agricultural background, the clubs in Staffordshire are based in rural communities and provide new skills and learning opportunities, for any young people, with an interest in rural life and activities. The Covid 19 situation has meant that Staffordshire YFC has had to adapt the youthwork service it provides to its members and clubs to an online delivery.
As Staffordshire YFC looks to the future, with the prospect of the lockdown easements over the summer, the federation hopes to be able to plan events to bring together members and rural community together at some of its competitions and social activities, taking into consideration, the latest covid guidance at the time.
Despite Lockdown3.0, Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) are still organising fun evenings to bring together their current members and stay in touch. To help the leaders of each club, the federation has joined forces, with each club taking a turn to host a “takeover” evening for everyone. Following the success of Chase YFC who took members around an IceCream Farm and Cheadle YFC who kept everyone fit with an online workout, it was the turn of Uttoxeter Young Farmers to host last week. The Club hosted a “Would I Lie to You” evening and saw over thirty members attending. It was held in keeping with format of the popular TV Show and hosted by Toby Hall, Club Chairman of Uttoxeter Young Farmers, who was sporting his favourite outrageous shirt which put a smile on everyone’s face. Toby’s fellow Club Officers, Kate Mollatt and Eddie Phillips both confessed to embarrassing truths from their past. The determined Kate took five attempts to pass her driving test and Eddie revealed that he once sank his teeth into another child in a ball pool – thankfully he was much younger and did say that it was by accident!
The next club to host an evening is Ashley Young Farmers Club who have a “Quick Fire Mash Up” night planned to bring current members of all ages together online. Ashley YFC have been very active throughout the pandemic with supporting their local community with shopping and prescription deliveries. They also raised over £1300 for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and themselves as a registered charity, back in December with their “Covid-19 Day’s of Christmas” campaign which included a raffle, duck race and quiz.
Staffordshire YFC has members aged 10 – 26 years across ten clubs in Staffordshire. Club meeting nights usually run on a weekly basis, with a wide range of activities available for members of all ages including sports, public speaking, cinema and bowling trips, quizzes and farm walks. Although not all members are from an agricultural background, the clubs in Staffordshire are based in rural communities and provide the much needed social life, new skills and learning opportunities, for any young people, with an interest in rural life and activities. The Covid 19 situation has meant that Staffordshire YFC has had to adapt the youthwork service it provides to its members and clubs and so many are now embracing the new normal with zoom nights until restrictions ease.
As Staffordshire YFC looks to the future, the federation hopes to be able to plan events for later in the year, including competitions, the Annual Rally and also be involved in the Staffordshire County Show.
Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) are continuing to rise to the challenge of operating during covid times and keeping their members connected. Following the announcement of Lockdown3.0 in January, members from the active clubs in Staffordshire have joined forces to hold county meeting nights, with each club taking a turn to host the event on zoom.
Members have joined in with Cheadle Young Farmers who hosted a full 30 minute body workout, which member Alice Naden led in January. This was followed by Chase Young Farmers who arranged for Daltons Ice Cream Farm, based in Wootton, to show members around their enterprise with a virtual tour and Q&A.
Staffordshire YFC County Chairlady, Amy Boothby said “The evening was a great success and very informative and interactive as well, which I appreciate can be difficult when holding events virtually. The hosts had managed to take short videos of themselves in action on the farm, from milking the cows to filling ice cream tubs, which we were all able to watch through Zoom and allowed us all to feel as though we were there in real life!”
Feedback from members was really positive, with the only downfall being that there was no tasting over zoom!
Uttoxeter Young Farmers are next to host a county zoom evening, on 17th February and will be organising a “Would I Lie to You” night for members to have some fun with.
Staffordshire YFC has members aged 10 – 26 years across ten clubs in Staffordshire. Club meeting nights usually run on a weekly basis, with a wide range of activities available for members of all ages including sports, public speaking, cinema and bowling trips, quizzes and farm walks. Although not all members are from an agricultural background, the clubs in Staffordshire are based in rural communities and provide the much needed social life, new skills and learning opportunities, for any young people, with an interest in rural life and activities. The Covid 19 situation has meant that Staffordshire YFC has had to adapt the youthwork service it provides to its members and clubs and so many are now embracing the new normal with zoom nights until restrictions ease.
As Staffordshire YFC looks to the future, the federation hopes to be able to plan some fundraising events and face to face competitions soon but, in the meantime, is continuing to support members and clubs in a virtual way using technology and social media.
On Saturday 5th December, Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) held yet another first in their history since forming in 1952. With the cancellation and adaptation of many events and competitions from their usual format this Autumn, and no social events being able to go ahead, competitive members of Staffordshire YFC decided to get stuck into another rally, similar to the one held in May. This time, it was a Virtual Christmas Rally, with classes all themed around the festive season. The members of seven Staffordshire YFC clubs wanted to get ahead with these competitions, as all points gained now count towards the main Rally which it is hoped will run in May 2021. There were 14 Competitions Classes held, ranging from “Build a 3D Snowman from any materials” to “Club Christmas Song” which saw a range of musical talents coming together on video.
Judging took place via the Staffordshire YFC Facebook page, which has over 4500 followers. The number of “likes” for each entry was calculated along with an independent judge’s placings to give the overall result. The weekends virtual event attracted the support of seven sponsors, some of whom also helped with judging the classes. The sponsors were J A Bloor, South Staffs Water, LLM Vets, NVM Construction, Uttoxeter NFU, Agrovista and Frontier Agriculture Ltd.
There were over 160 entries from current members of all ages, encouraged by their Club Rally Secretaries, who got stuck into making and creating their entries and judges gave very positive feedback across all the classes. Hannah Fitzsimmons of LLM Vets judged the “Best Dressed Christmas Pet” class which saw an array of cats, dogs, horses and various farm animals entered. Hannah said ‘It has been an honour to judge this year’s Best Dressed Christmas Pet class. There were many brilliant entries, full of Christmas cheer; alongside some incredible training to keep some of the pets still in their costumes! Well done to everyone who entered, it really was a tough decision. I was very impressed by the creativity and effort of my first place.”
Amy Boothby, County Chairman of Staffordshire YFC said “Thank you so much to all our sponsors, judges and stewards for the support and help over the weekend, it has been a great showcase of YFC talent. I must extend a personal thank you to all the Club top tables and members who came on board this new idea, I have been blown away by the standard and number of entries we received!”
Once all the results were collated, the clubs were placed as follows for the Overall Virtual Christmas Rally 2020:
1st – Cheadle Young Farmers Club
2nd – Ashley Young Farmers Club
3rd – Uttoxeter Young Farmers Club
Staffordshire YFC has members aged 10 – 26 years across ten clubs in Staffordshire. Club meeting nights usually run on a weekly basis, with a wide range of activities available for members of all ages including sports, public speaking, cinema and bowling trips, quizzes and farm walks. Although not all members are from an agricultural background, the clubs in Staffordshire are based in rural communities and provide the much needed social life, new skills and learning opportunities, for any young people, with an interest in rural life and activities. The Covid 19 situation has meant that Staffordshire YFC has had to adapt the youthwork service it provides to its members and clubs and so many are now embracing the new normal, with weekly zoom meetings and COVID-19-secure activities.
As Staffordshire YFC looks ahead to 2021, the federation hopes to be able to plan some fundraising events and face to face competitions from the spring and in the meantime, is continuing to support members and clubs in a virtual way using technology and social media.
To view all the winning entries and results, please click here
Once all the results were collated, the clubs were placed as follows for the Overall Virtual Christmas Rally 2020:
1st – Cheadle Young Farmers Club
2nd – Ashley Young Farmers Club
3rd – Uttoxeter Young Farmers Club
To view the winning entries and all details of the results, please click here
On Sunday 29th November, Staffordshire YFC held the first set of competitions towards their popular Public Speaking Day Competitions. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the team competitions – Junior Reading, Junior Speaking, Intermediate Brainstrust and Senior Debating have been postponed until 7th February 2021. However, the Member of The Year (18 and Under/19 and Over) along side the Situations Vacant Competitions were held via zoom. The two days of competitions are being kindly sponsored by B and B Tractors, supporting YFC members to build confidence, team work and public speaking skills which will be invaluable later in life.
After a day of interviews, the results were as follows:
Member of the Year, 18 and Under:
1st – Molly Sammons, Eccleshall YFC; 2nd – Maisie Tinwell, Leek YFC; 3rd – Hollie Kelly, Chase YFC
Member of the Year, 19 and Over (Male):
1st – Toby Hall, Uttoxeter JNFU; 2nd – Phil Wilson, Uttoxeter JNFU
Member of the Year, 19 and Over (Female):
1st – Sarah Bourne, Cheadle YFC; 2nd Beckie Phillips, Uttoxeter JNFU; 3rd Alicia Bexon, Uttoxeter JNFU
Molly Sammons, Maisie Tinwell, Sarah Bourne and Toby Hall all qualify to go forward to the West Midlands Area rounds in Shropshire in March.
