On Tuesday 23rd May, Staffordshire Young Farmers Club (YFC) hosted their Pre-Show Reception which was kindly sponsored by Abbotsholme School, RBA Wealth Management and HSKSG Accountants at the Ingestre Suite on the County Showground. The evening was attended by over 180 sponsors, supporters and invited guests of the Federation and marks the start of the Staffordshire County Show with many representatives of the rural community coming together.
The evening proved to be very entertaining with the ‘YFC’s Got Talent’ Competition, where competitors presented any talents of their choice from singing and dancing to a comedy sketch. The judges, Vanessa Roe, former Staffordshire County Chairperson & Steve Cartmail, currently the County Chairperson of The Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society, commented that the four acts they had judged were all fantastic, talented and should be congratulated for having the courage to come up on stage and perform.
After the acts had performed, the winners were announced as Uttoxeter JNFU with a very entertaining double act, which saw Toby Hall playing the keyboard and Rob Mollatt taking to the microphone. Their performance involved lots of audience participation and they even invited the County Treasurer, Angela Woodward on stage! Second place went to Abbotsholme YFC with Eva performing a beautiful solo to David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’ accompanied by a seamless choreographed dance routine by Anais. Eccleshall YFC entertained with a famous Two Ronnies, Mastermind sketch featuring Dan Moseley & Tom Bowers which saw the audience laughing both at them and with them.
Staffordshire Young Farmers Club along with South Staffordshire Water also presented a charity cheque to Midlands Air Ambulance following a very successful Christmas Tractor Run held in December 2022 which saw 100 tractors take to the roads around the Blithfield Reservoir Area.
During the evening there was also a presentation made by one of the local clubs, Ashley YFC who explained about their fundraising over the last 12 months with two events that they organised. One event was a Santa Sleigh around the villages and neighborhood’s of Ashley and the second event was a Pie and Quiz Night. The club raised valuable funds for two charities which the members wished to support this year – Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Motor Neurone Disease Association.
There was also a presentation made by Polly Baines, Chairperson of the Staffordshire Young Farmers Ambassadors (YFA) as she kept everyone up to date with the NFYFC YFC Travel Programme, which has trips available from September 2023. YFC members can apply for travel opportunities all over the world from Rural Youth Seminars, working Scholarships to a Ski Trip.
The Leslie T Chester competition results were also presented for the best ‘Blog’ writing competition, with members having to write a 300 – 500 word blog to the theme ‘My YFC Journey’. First place went to Emily Cartmail of Eccleshall YFC, second place to Polly Baines of Uttoxeter JNFU with Natalie Bradley of Eccleshall coming third.
The evening was a great way for members and guests to start thinking ahead to the Staffordshire County Show, which is being held on Wednesday 31st May – Thursday 1st June where Staffordshire YFC members will be promoting their clubs inside the YFC Marquee, erected next to the YFC Office on the showground. Members will also be competitive on Wednesday evening as they “take the strain” in the main ring at 7.30pm with the Male and Female Tug of War Competition as well as on Thursday afternoon at 2.15pm with the very popular Show Floats, to the theme of “A Day in History” this year.
Emily Cartmail, County Chairperson said “Tonight has been a fantastic evening to show case the talents and hard work of all our members, from raising money for various charities to entertaining the audience with comedy, singing and dancing. We are excited for this year’s County Show, all the clubs are so busy putting time, effort and skill into the show floats and their club displays to showcase what they as a YFC club are proud of. Personally, I cannot wait to see what the clubs have got in store for this year’s County Show!”
To view an album of photos from the Pre Show Reception, please click here.
