Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (SCFYFC) started celebrating their Platinum Anniversary as the leading rural youth organisation in Staffordshire for 70 years, by holding a glamorous Dinner Dance on Saturday 5th March 2022, at the Ingestre Suite, County Showground, Stafford. The evening saw 450 guests including current and past members as well as many supporters of Staffordshire YFC, enjoy a three course Roast Dinner and then socialise and dance to music from The Sound Party Band. A fund-raising raffle and auction were also held on the evening, with the top item of a three-night stay in a holiday cottage in Cumbria fetching over £800. The event sold out within 5 days of tickets being released and all those who attended thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with old and new faces, after two years of events of this type not being held due to the pandemic. In addition to the fundraising for Staffordshire YFC, the auction also had a special donation from Amerton Farm, for an Alpaca Experience Day, which fetched £360 to be donated directly to help those in need in Ukraine.
The tables on the evening held photo displays of former and current throughout the 7 decades showcasing the different types of activities that members can take part in and in The Boden Room next to The Ingestre Suite, there were videos and more photo memorabilia on display to reminisce over.
Currently, the Federation has nearly 650 members across 10 clubs in the County – Abbotsholme, Ashley, Chase, Cheadle, Eccleshall, Leek, Lichfield, Stone, Uttoxeter and Waterhouses. The members who are aged from 10 -28 years enjoy a varied programme of learning activities and competitions including Public Speaking, Tug of War, Cookery, Rural Skills and a wide variety of Sports for all ages. Members can also gain developmental skills via free training and awareness evenings including Mental Health Awareness, Farm Safety, Team Building and Healthy Eating at their club meetings and via the County and National programme. SCFYFC has adapted over the last two years during the pandemic and as a county it continued to deliver activities and competitions including a Virtual “Show Floats Competition, the size of “shoe boxes” and two Virtual Annual Rallies with over 15 competitions in each. Clubs are now looking forward to a much more normal year, with the Annual Rally planned for Saturday 7th May with over 40 competitions taking place at Hall Farm, Pipe Ridware, by kind permission of R J Smith and Son.
County Chairman, Toby Hall said “After what has been a two-year period like no other, it’s amazing to say the next twelve months for Staffordshire YFC are looking very promising and I can’t wait to get started in living the dream! With membership consistently high throughout the clubs, it gives myself as County Chairman great optimism as we look ahead to our landmark days such as the Rally and County Show.”
Photos from the evening were kindly taken by Rocester and District Camera Club and can be viewed by clicking here
