On Tuesday 24th 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 200 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 dancing, comedy to playing the violin. The judges, George Hawley & Graham Hollinshead commented that the six acts they had judged were all very entertaining, talented and unique in their own way!
After the acts had performed, the winners were announced as Abbotsholme YFC with Lyrica and Anais performing a superb and well-choreographed dance routine to the song “Unstoppable” by Sia. The judges said that the girls had great musicality and timing. Second place went jointly to Eccleshall YFC & Uttoxeter JNFU. Eccleshall YFC entertained with a pub sketch scene featuring Dan Moseley & Harry Bowers with plenty of jokes about life in general. Rob Mollatt & Toby Hall from Uttoxeter JNFU certainly got the laughs with their ‘two women at a wedding’ sketch including some very questionable side to side dancing!
Staffordshire Young Farmers along with South Staffordshire Water also presented a charity cheque to Midlands Air Ambulance following a very successful Christmas Tractor Run held in December 2021. This was also followed by a second cheque presentation by Staffordshire YFC and Emily Meakin, following the JW Meakin Tractor Run, which they organised alongside the Meakin Family in March this year, in memory of John Meakin. This Tractor Run raised money for Katherine House Hospice, who cared for John during his short illness.
During the evening there was a presentation by Ashley YFC about their fundraising over the last 12 months, charity cheques were presented on stage to Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Midlands Air Ambulance.
Polly Baines, Chairlady of the Staffordshire Young Farmers Ambassadors (YFA), kept everyone up to date with the NFYFC YFC Travel Programme, with trips available from September 2022. YFC members can apply for travel opportunities all over the world from Rural Youth Seminars, homestays in Nepal to working in New Zealand. Jack Salt of Ashley YFC has been successful in applying for the Autumn Seminar in Ireland this year. The aim of the trip is that the participants gain knowledge of LGBTI+ inclusion and develop skills to facilitate respectful dialogue on the topic in rural communities and rural youth organisations.
The Leslie T Chester competition results were also presented for the best 500 word story using 15 specified words – lateral, daffodil, camembert, magnitude, obtuse, birthday, darkness, spectacles, flight, photograph, special, question, umbrella, cold & alpaca. First place went to Serena Gough of Eccleshall YFC, second place to Kate Oakes of Chase YFC with Beckie Philips of Uttoxeter JNFU 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 1st – Thursday 2nd June where Staffordshire YFC members will be promoting their clubs inside the YFC Marquee, erected next to the YFC Building 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 “West End Musicals” this year.
Toby Hall, County Chairman said “Tonight has been a fantastic evening to show case the talents and hard work of all our members, from performing their many skills and talents on stage to the teamwork behind the various charity fundraising activities. We are excited for this year’s County Show, which will be celebrating 70 years of Staffordshire YFC along with the Queens Jubilee. We would love to see lots of current and past members over the two days of the Show and any supporters of our organisation visit the marquee and our tearooms where there will be a warm welcome and refreshments for everyone.”
Photos from the evening, kindly taken by Sally Elkin of Rocester Camera Club, can be found by clicking here.
