GrassRoots14-15

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Worcestershire Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs
Grass Roots Year Book 2014-15

Dear Friend,
If you have picked up a copy of this years Grass Roots, then you

have most probably had an input into the fun, the laughter, the events,
the competitions and successes that fill it’s pages and I thank you.
If your new to YFC then I hope that our pictures and stories from the

last year can only convince you to get involved, all it takes is a small ‘YES’!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this edition of Grass Roots

and I hope you enjoy the read!
Matt Tomkins

A special thank you to those that have worked tirelessly behind the scenes
Ed Leake - Rich Woodward - Maria Muntz-Torres - Dean Sinnett

Rachel Gilder - Tom Goodwin - Tor Howell - Steph Currie - Sue Symonds
Helen Harcombe Kathy Yarnold - Hannah Talbot - Jocelyn Icke
Dean Hazlewood - Daniel Bradley - Kathleen Rose - Pete Rose
Alistair McMinn - Chris Perkins - Nicola Yarnold - Martin May

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Contents 2
4
Editors note 5
County Officers 6
National President’s Message 7
County President’s Message 12
County Chairman’s Report 14
Charity Report 18
Activities Report 19
County Co-ordinator’s Report
County Field Officer’s Report 23
Young Farmers’ Club Reports 26
27
Abberley 28
Bromsgrove 33
Crowle 37
Cutnall Green 40
Inkberrow 44
Martley 47
Tenbury Wells 49
Upton upon Severn 53
Vale of Evesham 56
Wythall 58
County Show Report 59
Stock Judging Co-ordinator’s Report 63
Catches, matches and hatches
County Cups and Awards 2014-15
Club Chairman and Secretary Contacts 2015-16

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County Officers 2014-15

President:
Mr Martin May

Life Vice Presidents:
Miss Judy Allen, Mr Roger Dudfield, Mr Royston Evans,
Mr John Fellows, Mr David Goodwin, Mr Francis Harcombe,

Mr Lionel Hill MBE

Vice Presidents:
Mr Andy Callwood, Mr Jim Phillips, Mr Phil Gibbs, Ms Sarah Coley

Mrs Jenny Worthington, Mr Alan Nott, Mr Gary Ford
Mrs Helen Hirons, Mrs Yvette Rees

Shires Farm Trustees:
Mr Francis Harcombe, Mrs Sophie Howard, Mr David Pardoe

Mr Mark Yarnold,

Board of Management Chairman:
Mr Peter Rose

County Chairman:
Mr Matthew Tomkins

County Vice Chairman
Mr Richard Woodward

Activities Chairman:
Ed Leake and Miss Kathy Yarnold

County Show Chairman:
Miss Maria Muntz-Torres and Mr Dean Sinnett

Treasurer:
Miss Kathleen Rose

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National President’s Message

Poul Christensen

It is a great pleasure as president of the National
Federation of Young Farmers’ Club to represent
such a dynamic and active organisation.

Throughout my time as president, my wife and I
have had the honour of visiting so many great
club and county activities and we are always blown
away by the amazing work that is done by
volunteers.

Now that the membership year is in full swing, I am sure you are all gearing
up for the many competitions that you take part in. NFYFC offers members
the opportunity to take part in a varied programme that not only provides
the pleasure of taking part but also of succeeding on so many different
levels. The skills learned through competitions and many other NFYFC
programmes allow members to apply these skills in many other areas of
their lives outside of YFC and hence to succeed.

I was recently asked to judge one of the area rounds of Member of the Year.
I was so impressed by the knowledge and commitment that each and every
one of the finalists demonstrated. It is great to witness the enthusiasm of
members, not only for their clubs and counties but also for the organisation
as a whole. It is good to know that the future of the organisation is in good
hands going forward.

At present, we are all aware of the challenges that lay ahead for NFYFC. It is
a difficult time financially but there are many positive steps being taken to
ensure the longevity of the organisation. It is good to see so many positive
and open discussions regarding the increase of the levy. It is this open
discussion and positive manner that will ensure the progression and
enhancement of NFYFC going forward.

Thank you for all your hard work over the last number of months.
I am proud to represent such a forward thinking and proactive organisation.
Best of luck for the coming months.

Poul

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County President’s Message

Martin May

My third and last year as County President has flown
by and a very enjoyable year it has been too. Matt
and his team have organised some fantastic events,
raising a lot of money on the way. Once again
members at all levels, new and experienced, have
done very well for themselves, their clubs and the County,
hopefully having a lot of fun along the way.

The Winter Wonderland Ball got the year off to a good start and it looked
like everyone had a lot of fun. Christmas was soon upon us with the Carol
service at Worcester Cattle Market, Matt and his team put on another very
entertaining evening despite the cold, getting the Christmas festivities off to
a very good start.

The competitions carried on in the New Year being well supported by the
club members. The National AGM saw Matt Tomkins and his team running a
marathon to Torquay raising much money for Charity. Well done to them
all.

The County Show – what a fantastic day! Special thanks must go to my
family for all the work and support enabling us to host the show at short
notice. Matt Tomkins, Maria, Rambo, Peter Rose, Oliver and all the many
other helpers, members and their families managed to make this an
exceptional day.

The last major events of the year were at Defford and the Harvest Ball at
Cutnall Green… Many Thanks must go to the Goodwin family and the Smart
family for hosting these events.
Gill Pinder and Ann Denning work very hard at the Shires Farm County
Offices, keeping everything running smoothly for the club members and the
County. Thank you both.

...As for 2015/16, Richard Woodward and his team have a lot to look
forward to...Good luck to you all, members, past, current and soon to be.
Remember the more you put in the more you get out, you can all take real
pride in being part of Worcestershire Federation of Young Farmers.

Martin

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County Chairman’s Report
Matt Tomkins

Here we are, I’ve arrived at the end of my
term as County Chairman. To summarise
the last year is an impossible feat, solely
because it’s hard to separate every day
‘real life’ from young farmers life.

But looking through the pictures,
thinking about the people I’ve met, the events
we’ve organised, all the fond memories I can honestly
say that can only be a good thing!

Lets start like any good story, right back at the beginning!

My ‘year’ as County Chairman started way back in April where the planning
for Winter Wonderland Ball 2k14 really started. Not only is it the largest
event of the year, financially for the federation it has the most riding on it to
be a success and it comes right at the beginning of the ‘new year’. I was very
keen to give the ball a face lift this year, put away the
snow flakes and santa’s hats, this year we were hitting
VEGAS!
The first trip to Travis Perkins for decoration supplies
started in August, apologises to Matt Glaze, from then
up until WWB, Doverdale became a DIY haven! Thank
you to Nathan, Steph, Ed, Dan, Vicky, Tor, Alison and
the rest for long nights cutting and painting - it’s
amazing what you can do with a few sheets of plywood
and a bit of imagination!
We said a fond farewell to Katie Ainsworth at the beginning of September
as she left to pursue a career in teaching. I must say a massive thank you to
Rich for the long evenings we spent in the office, organising the start of year
paper chase and Club Officers Weekend, really couldn't have done it without
you. Many thanks to Kathy and Nicola for joining the ‘coaching’ team as we

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headed to Derbyshire for an eventful weekend indoctrinating the new club
officers! Interclub relations were rife and the Saturday night went out with
a bang for a certain Mr Parry.
The Agricultural Chaplaincy were keen to spruce up the Harvest service in
October… Perfect let’s reform the Abberley Choir who were sensational the
previous year, add a couple of bass notes (Nathan and I) and you have a
very rural take on Jessie J live in Worcester Cathedral! Not something we
shall get to do again I’m sure….

The search for a suitable candidate to fill the role of Field Worker wouldn’t
have happened half as successfully without the efforts of Helen Harcombe
and Hannah Talbot. After a suitable number of applicants were interviewed,
Gill Pinder successfully joined the team at the beginning of November!

The AGM in November finally arrived and as I
replaced Mini Mac as County Chairman, it was
certainly a nice feeling knowing that WWB
2014 was already a sell out!
The night itself was a huge success, the
showgirls, fire breathers and wedding chapel

went down a
treat, thank you
to F&GP, for the help setting up, manning the
doors all night and tidying up, David, Francis
and team for running the bars and the Mary,
Lorraine and team keeping us fed. Ed saw in
5.30am with me as we unblocked the ladies
toilets and that was it WWB done and dusted!

Christmas was soon here and we had another kind invite from Clive Roads
and McCartney’s to hold our Annual Carol Service at the Cattle Market.
Another evening of fun and festive frolics, thank you to all the members for
getting involved and to Steph, Helen and Nathan for joining me under the
panto horses!!

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You can’t help but love the Christmas
festivities put on by the clubs and
boxing day brought along my first
evening on the beer since Club
Officers, thank you Cutnall Green!
January and February brought a manic
6 weeks of competitions for the clubs but more about those from Ed and
Kathy!
It was in the New Year that my plans for the years Chairman’s Challenge
started to take shape and after hearing Mark and Sue Symonds tale and the
little miracle of Thomas and the Worcs NHS Neonatal Unit, we’d found our
cause, soon to be joined by Cancer Research UK, Runnin’ On Down the A38
was born! Then to find some new
trainers, start running and
convince an army of members to
join me on the 160 mile rolling
relay…….19 runners stepped
forward and the training began in
earnest, WE WERE RUNNING TO
THE AGM!

As daunting as the running was looking we also hoped to
raise a good amount of cash for our two charities and so
the pudding party and promise auction took shape in
March. Thank you to all of the runners, pudding maker’s,
auction lot donators and bidders for helping us raise our
first £3000!
We sent out our plee to an endless list of companies for
charitable support up and down the country and it wasn’t
long before the donations started coming in. I really must say thank you to
Helen Pearse for orchestrating this operation, it wouldn’t have been any
where near as effective without her efforts. Sue and Mark were behind us
from the off, taking over BBC H&W with shout outs and goodie bags!

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Cheers so much! We successfully completed the 160 miles down the A38
in good time and arrived to see an army of Worcestershire
members waiting for us on the finish line, Thank You!

After an epic weekend on the beer and nursing sore
feet we headed back home, to begin preparations for the
County Show. Martin May had saved the day, offering us the
use of the family farm for the Show back in November. After
some persuading, Maria and Rambo agreed to take on the role of
Joint County Show Chair and I am ever so glad that they
did! Like a military operation Maria, Ann and Rambo
pulled off a fantastic day, well done to everyone who
competed on the day and to Cutnall Green for winning
the big one!

Just around the corner was the Royal Three Counties
Show, ably organised by Jocelyn Ike in our home year.
We were in it to win it, Rachel Gilder and her team of
stock judgers won the stock judging out right! Rachel you have been out-

standing all year, thank you!
We came in 2nd overall a very very close
175 points behind Hereford. I couldn’t
have been prouder of those members
that competed at the RTCS, you honestly
gave it your all, Alice Crump, Lydia
Jennings, Becky Smith, Jo Bull, Alice
Howell to name a few, you turned your
hands to it all. Thank you!

Defford, our second largest social event of the
year was just around the corner in July and the
members were keen for another hit of UV Paint
and a visit from Shropshire YF’ers’ The Texels!
Thank you to the Goodwin’s for hosting and
Francis and Tom for organising the bar and

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army of staff. Thank you to Ed and Nathan, F&GP and all of the club
members who helped set up and tidy up afterwards! It was all gone by
midday on Saturday, Woop Woop!

On September 5th, Tom Goodwin and Jo Fryman
got married, I was very proud of Upton Farmers
turning out in their Sunday best to provide the
Guard of Honour. Congrats Tom and Jo!

My last event of the year was the Mad Hatters’
Harvest Ball, kindly hosted by the Smart Family
at Lake House Farm, Cutnall Green. Months of preparation from the Ball
Committee - Tor, Rachel, Steph, Sophie, Ed, Rich, Sue, Emily and Nathan all

came to ahead on the 19th September. Very much seen
as an end of year celebration rather than a money maker,
we looked to put on a show!
Thank you Liz and your team
from Buffets our Business,
Chris Hunt and Roger Allard
for cooking the Beef, the
army of carvers, serving staff
and bar staff, Thank You!

I must thank my Mum and Dad for all of the support over the last twelve
months, they’ll need a holiday or two to get over it!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my year as County Chairman, we certainly have
our share of talented and enthusiastic members across the County. Getting
to know you all has been a privilege and I wish you all the very best!
Good Luck to Rich and his team over the next twelve months!

Matt Tomkins signing off……..

Matt xxx

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Runnin’ On Down the A38

Chairman’s Challenge 2015

Worcestershire Young Farmers’ travelled to
the National Federation’s Annual General
Meeting in Torquay by foot, running the
160miles to raise over £11 500 for the Worcs
NHS Neonatal Unit and Cancer Research UK.

The Team of 19 runner’s and 3 support crew was made up of members
from across the County.
Matt Tomkins
Dean ‘Rambo’ Sinnett
Kate Stephens
Nathan Tomkins
Chris Perkins
Laura Hart
Steph Currie
Rose Llewellyn
Clare Kerby
Lucinda White
Chris Lort
Will Saunder
SJ Paskin
Jane Righton
Helen Calvert
Ellis Jones
Will Parry
Rich Woodward
Miles Banks
Tor Howell
Robin Tomkins
Nik Connolly

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The Route

22nd April Shires Farm, Hawford - Alveston,
Gloucestershire ~60 miles

23rd April Alveston - Waterloo Cross, Devon
~ 60 miles

24th April Waterloo Cross - Riviera Centre,
Torquay ~40 miles

Total 160 miles
4 mile rolling relay, each runner
ran a marathon!!

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Activities Report 2014-15

Ed Leake and Kathy Yarnold

Our year is based on the
competition calendar and it has
been a VERY BUSY year. Ed and I
took over last minute and so we
weren’t very organised for the
beginning of the year. This was a very different year to
our previous years being that both of us were Club
Chairman's of Tenbury and Upton.

We kicked of the competition calendar as usual with the ploughing
competition, which was held at Redhouse Farm near Kidderminster, by kind
permission of the Robinson family. We had many competitors with Dan
Albutt from Evesham winning the intermediate class and Sam Rose winning

the senior class and the overall best
YFC ploughman on the day.

Then we moved onto the bowling
competition at bowl extreme with
Tenbury Wells showing us all how to
bowl! This was the only competition
when we had all clubs competing at
the same time!
Well done Tenbury!

The pub quiz was quickly upon us at The Fountain in Tenbury with the
Inkberrow showing us they had the most knowledge in the county, Upton
and Bromsgrove weren’t far behind!

On to the sports comp in November held at Evesham where we had 4
competitions on the same day, so well done to all the clubs that
entered and did come along to compete. It took a lot for the staff to put
on for us at the school, thanks must also go the Chris Perkins the
sports coordinator for us this year, so thank you to him for getting it
all organised.

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Well done to Cutnall Green who took home more than a few red
cards that day!

Winter Wonder Ball was just round the corner with a sell out of tickets well
done to Matt and the team for all the decorations and making us feel like
we really were in Las Vegas. With the run up to Christmas we had club
events for the under 18s at the under 18s ball kindly hosted by Abberley
YFC and of course the County Nativity play at Worcester Market with a
twist once again to Matt Tomkins creativity.

We entered the New Year with the stockman of the year competition
which was held at Hillend Court by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Smith,
Upton were the overall
winners on home turf!
Thank you to Rachel Gil-
der who has put so
much effort in to the
stock judging competi-
tions this year and really
raised the standard of
the stock judging in
Worcestershire YFC.

On the wettest day of
the year we held the
fencing competitions, with all competitors, judges and stewards getting
soaked! Well done to the competitors who managed to compete in bad
conditions, well done to Upton who had to start again due to some ground
problems.

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We also held Member of the Year at the County Building in warm and dry,
where Steph Currie was named Miss Worcs YFC, Will Parry, Mr Worcs YFC
and Alice Bull - Junior Member of the Year.

The pantomime and one plus competition were next on the list held at The
Regal Theatre, Tenbury Wells. We roped in some local judges Lionel Hill
MBE and Mark Yarnold who laughed the day away with three of the same
Panto’s!
Inkberrow stole
the show
though with
their version of
‘Snow White
and Severn
Eejits’.

At this point
our year started to slow down as we went on to West Midland
Competitions. Ed organised fencing, tractor handling and ATV competitions
for the West Midlands Area Rounds held in Upton. We had a good turnout
from Worcestershire but sadly not many other Couties turned up. Thank
you Ed for organising all the machinery, you did a very good job!

With success throughout the year and Three Counties Show a massive
thank you and well done to all the stock judgers and to Rachel Gilder who
just kept on entering more and more competitions and coming home with
prize cards. Thank
you to all of you for
representing
Worcestershire
Young Farmers and
congratulations on
your achievements,
we were
Oh, So Close!

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With us trying to move competitions about around Worcestershire and
looking for suitable venues we held the Dancing competitions at Abberely
village hall with Abberely YFC winning and going all the way through to
national and representing us at Torquay so a massive well done to you for
getting that far!

It’s been a great year with lots of competition within the clubs. We also have
continued the pig challenge with clubs challenging other clubs to win the pig!
We have held a few pub of the month nights, so clubs can meet in their local
pubs and encourage other clubs to join them, as a way of getting
Worcestershire clubs to mix and become more competitive.

Worcestershire have had some great results at all
levels of competition this year. Congratulations to
the Tenbury Ladies TOW team winning the
National Finals for the 2nd time in three years.
The Upton Junior TOW team coming third, Cutnall
Green getting there Cube Exhibit to 3rd place in
the National Final and Alice Crump winning the
NFYFC National Junior Floral Art Competition,
FANTASTIC!!

We would both like to thank everyone who has
helped us throughout the year including judges,
stewards, competitors and hosts. A special thank you to Judy and Ann, sorry
for the stress we have caused! We couldn’t have done it without. Well done
to Matt who has supported us greatly throughout the year and congratulation
on a great year!
Good Luck to Will Parry for next year!

Ed and Kathy xxx

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County Co-ordinator’s Report

Ann Denning

Another membership year comes to
an end and how quickly they pass!
I found the start of the year very tough
with Katie Ainsworth having gone to pastures
new, no Activities Chairman in place and
no County Show date set or Show Chairman in
place either.

However it wasn’t long before Matt Tomkins,

County Chairman, got not one but two members to take on the role of

Activities Chairman and Chair Lady and two for the County Show as well!

Then in October Beth Dennis was appointed as part time Admin Assistant in
the office and shortly afterwards, in November, Gill Pinder was appointed as
Field Officer. I can only imagine what Beth and Gill thought when they met
me, as Winter Wonderland Ball tickets were selling fast and the demand for
tickets was reaching frenzy point and I was just a headless chicken trying to
cope!

I have to commend Matt Tomkins on his year and for all the time and effort
he put in to organising his Chairman’s Challenge. I was impressed how he
encouraged members to join him in raising money for his chosen charities. I
understand that Matt has raised a very impressive sum of money, so no
doubt his charities will be thrilled to receive their cheques! Well done Matt
you should be extremely proud of what you have achieved.

My thanks to Beth for all the help and support that she has given me during
the year in the office, and wish her all the very best as she starts at Harper
Adams University.

I look forward to the year ahead - working with members, new club officers
and county officers. I hope you all have a good year and don’t forget to
have some fun at the same time!

Ann xxx

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County Field Officer’s Report

Gill Pinder

Since I joined WFYFC last November, the time
has totally flown by and I have had a
wonderful time!! I have met so many
amazing, talented, dedicated and
hardworking young people and working a
long side them has been a real privilege and really
opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed!!

I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you for making me feel so
welcome and for all the support you have shown me over the past 10
months. I can’t believe how quickly I settled into my new job as Field
Officer. Matt, Rich and Ann have been a fantastic support and have shown
me ‘the way’ on several occasions!! I was told it would take at least one
calendar year to fully understand what happens in YFC and I couldn’t agree
more!!

I remember my very first club visit to Cutnall Green. How impressive was
that!! This was followed by visits to many clubs and my very first AGM at
Crowle. I met many of you for the first time at the Joules evening at the end
of November. I’d never looked at Joules clothes before but was soon
inspired and managed to leave with a dress,
jeans and cardi!!

Winter Wonderland was just round the corner
and a very busy and
stressful time in the
office!! Everything
came together in the
end and I heard so
many wonderful
comments and saw so
many great pictures of the event.

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The first competition I saw in action was the After Dinner Speaking. I loved
the willingness to have a go and I thought some of the scripts were just
brilliant. The Christmas carol service also made me smile and I have never
seen a nativity play like it! Really original and the props were just out of this
world!! I met Inkberrow club for the first time at Lionel’s house for
Christmas carols. This was a lovely evening and again I was made to feel so
welcome.

Bringing all the club chairmen and club
secretaries together for their own
meetings not long after I started really
helped me to understand the roles and
get to know everyone personally. The
officers agreed that the meetings were
useful so that was a relief. I didn’t know what response I would get when I
organised them!!

My first taste of stock judging was at Rachel Gilder’s fantastic training
evening in January. I learnt so much in such a short space of time. No

wonder Worcestershire did so well at stock judging
this year. Rachel’s input was invaluable.

Crowle’s new members’ night was a great evening
organised by Chairman Will Acock and his club.
Balloons, string, marshmallows, spaghetti and old
newspapers all spring to mind!! No wonder Will’s
new members decided to return!

The New Year had me biting at the bit wanting to get some funding for
training for our members. 12 members had a great time learning lots of
new first aid skills back in March and Mark Yarnold very kindly gave up his
time to offer excellent ATV training to 8 of our wanting members. The
assessor couldn’t sing the praises of our 8 enough! I remember Tom

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Baldi-Turner having the early, early slot and arriving with a huge smile on
his face, grateful of the early start so he could get straight back to work
afterwards!!
I’ve never seen so many adaptations of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
at the Pantomime competition in February. Great entertainment and it was
so obvious just how much time
and effort went into the
productions. The costumes,
props and scenery were amazing.
We certainly have some budding
actors in WFYFC!

Keen to get out to see the clubs, curve training was next on my agenda. The
‘Know your limits’’ programme focussing on alcohol was greatly received
and I really enjoyed some very interesting debates and discussions!

Prep for Rally started early and clubs really showed stamina and
determination to do well. I visited Abberley and Martley and it was so
lovely to see the juniors taking on active roles, painting, designing, cutting
out, sketching, gluing, making, running around finding things, ……… the list
goes on. I was very impressed with Upton’s pre rally meeting with a great
power point presentation where every competition was discussed in detail.
It was so lovely to see so many of our younger members being encouraged
to just come along to ‘have a go’.

Pre Rally carcase judging was a totally new experience
for me and as an acting steward for some of the time I
was able to hear how some of our members were able
to demonstrate their carcase
judging observations. Very, very
impressive and I learnt so much
from all of you who took part. Thank you!!
The sports events were certainly a giggle and it was
great to see the team from Inkberrow dressed up to
add to the great atmosphere and fun.

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My first Rally day is a day I will never forget!! It was absolutely amazing and
I was blown away by the standard of competition entries and team spirit.

You really are a wonderful and
talented group of young people and
watching you all perform on the day
really made me feel very privileged
to be part of such a fantastic
organisation. This really inspired me
to get ‘out there’ and start telling members of the public all about you and
to celebrate your successes with anybody who would listen!! There are so
many people and organisations who have heard of us but haven’t a clue
about the fantastic opportunities and social
life a Worcestershire young farmer leads.

Even though a bit of a dull subject half our
clubs managed to spice up the communica-
tions review I started to develop early sum-
mer time. This review could not have taken
place without these clubs and thanks to all of
you who completed the communications survey for me too.

During our quieter club time in August arrangements for our pre club officer
training evening and club officer training weekend began. Margam in
October is sure to be a fun and rewarding weekend!! And the year ahead is
certainly going to be a good one!!

Thanks again everybody for helping me to settle into my new role at
WFYFC. I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and supporting all
our clubs next year. I love the role and am so glad that you chose me!! Un-
til next time, ……………………………

Gill xxx

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Abberley YFC

Once again the last 12 months have just flown by!
As always our year kicked off with a new
members’ night at the start of September with
lots of mess and fun involved. The YFC
competitions calendar was quickly in full swing
which saw us enter the 10 pin bowling, pub quiz
competitions and sports comps, where we had great results in the Cross
Country.
Our harvest supper was bigger and better than ever, and we raised a good
amount of money on the raffle for our chosen charity of the year, Little
Hearts Matter. At the County AGM we were absolutely delighted to come
away with the Worcestershire YFC Charity Trophy, for being the Club that
made the largest charitable contribution per member! It is one of the few
that is not announced until the night, and to win it really did mean a lot to
us all. Vicki also came away with the Rising Star
award, so a very successful night for our Club.
November saw us hold our 3rd Under 18’s Ball,
this time with a” Hollywood” theme. It was
great to see so many Junior members from
across the County all enjoying themselves,
especially when Tank got involved in the
“dancing”!!

In December we held our “Big Breakfast” charity event. We did over 120
breakfasts, and with the help of all our hard working members, and the
VERY generous donations of food from several kind local businesses, we
raised a wonderful £700. Thank you to all involved.
As always 2014 drew to a close with our Annual Carol Singing around the
local pubs for Charity, followed by a sausage and chips supper. We did have
the tractor all dressed up with fairy lights again, but due to a wardrobe
malfunction, Father Christmas did not make an appearance, but don’t
worry, he will be back for 2015!!

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January was kicked off in style with the County Commercial Dancing
Competition. It was on our home ground at Abberley Village Hall. A LOT of
practice had taken place, and once again we were victorious!!
This meant a trip to Staffordshire on March 1st
for the WMA round of the competition. Again
after many more rehearsals, and with fishnet
tights and big hair, our girls came in 2nd. Luckily
with 2 spots on offer for the National Finals
this meant we would be off to Torquay again.
When we got to Torquay the girls did so well,
and they had a lot of support from Worcester-
shire members which was wonderful. No prize
card on the day, but I know they all enjoyed the experience of being in a
National final, something that many YFC members will never do.
At the WMA competitions day we also had our junior members
representing Worcestershire in the Reading competition. They did a grand
job, and all three of them grew in confidence. We had also entered the
County Junior Public Speaking competition with a very young team. They
did themselves proud, even though a couple of them had a serious case of
nerves!
For the 1st time since we reformed we
entered the Stockman of the Year
competition. It was bitterly cold. We slid
our way there on the ice, and had 4
members competing. 2 in the junior,
and 2 in the senior. The cold affected
one member, who had to pull out half
way through. They ALL did
themselves and the Club proud, and
Andy and I were so pleased to be seeing our members competing in this
traditional cornerstone of YFC. Anna came away with an individual 2nd place
card, which was just the icing on the cake for us all.

24

Easter seemed to arrive quickly, and this signalled our move down to our
President’s shed for County Show prep. We were not sure how the County
Show would be for us this year, as a third of our members were taking their
GCSE’s. On pre-show day we had a fantastic 5 that took part in the carcass
judging, and they were joined by 7 more fab members to compete in the live
stock judging in the afternoon.

They walked away with 9 prize cards on the day which was just AMAZING!!
Well done each of you for turning up to the practices, and paying attention
to all the advice from many people, but mostly from Andy. You all did so
well!! Show day itself was brilliant too. We managed to do quite a lot of the
competitions, with some members taking part in 7! We had some great
results, and at the end of the day, when they were giving out the overall
results, we came 6th!! We were mid table!! Where did
that come from?! There were tears of joy (from me
that is no surprise, is it Abberley??) and just utter
amazement at what our Club had achieved. As one
member put it, “we are knocking on the door of the
Big Five!” We have gone up a place in the table every
year so far, let’s hope we can continue that pattern in
2016!
We did have success at the RTCS too, with prize cards in stock judging, floral
art, dancing, photography, bedtime story and YFC’s got talent.

We continued our summer with trips and tours, but I think
the highlight was our trip to Drayton Manor in August. As a
club leader I can honestly say it was a pleasure to be in the
company of such great bunch young people.

We have many people to say thank you to, you are all stars
for helping us with the many things we do, we do appreciate
you all!!Abberley YFC has once again gone from strength to strength. We all
hope that this coming year will follow in the same vein. The last 5 years have
been a blast, but what will the next 5 bring??!!

25

Bromsgrove YFC

Tom Bolton and Grace Bamford

Well, 2014-15 what a year it's been!
As with every year, the members of
Bromsgrove Young Farmers Club have
done us proud. We are so lucky to
have such a diverse group of people
in our club - there is always someone
who brings a special quality to the group.

We are lucky to have our sporty members, making the annual
sports competition seem much easier than it really is. Other
members are more intellectual and they really excelled in the public
speaking competition and the pub quiz. Then there are the more arty
people, without whom we couldn't have expected to do so well in the crafts
and exhibits at rally - especially our main and junior exhibits which brought
so many of our collective skills together. We were honoured that these
exhibits went on to the Three Counties Show. We achieved a respectable
4th place at county show this year. I
think all members can be proud of
this, I know the club leaders certainly
are.

The one thing that all of Bromsgrove
Members have got in common, as well
as everyone's different skills, is that
we all pull together to make things
happen. Whether its giving each other
tips of what to look for in the
stockjudging competition, all mucking in together when setting up for our
annual New Years Eve ball (another highlight of our year) or even the person
who does the chippy run after everyone has been busy setting up for rally!
Bromsgrove Young Farmers, you are one amazing group of people, here's to
many future successes!

Grace xxx (Secretary)

26

Crowle of

Another year gone by as quickly as the next one has 27
started. Will and team started the year off with a
24 hour plough-a-thon in aid of the West Midland
Air Ambulance, kindly hosted by the Tarver-
Parkes family at Home Farm, Spetchley. After a
few minor breakdowns and
essential alterations the two
tractors, two ploughs and teams
members successfully ploughed
66 acres.

The club successfully held a new
members evening and ’Pre-AGM’ club do
which raised valuable funds for the club.

The club were well presented at this years
NFYFC AGM in Torquay, think it’s fair to say
what happened on holiday stays on holiday!
Well done to Rose and Lucinda for taking part
in this years County Chairman’s Challenge
and running their share of the 160 miles
down the A38.
All the attention turned to the Rally in May,
and the usual scramble ensued to get the
clubs entries together. Well Done to
everyone who took part.
Good luck to the team taking over, anyone
interested in helping or getting involved this
year, don’t sit back, stand up and be
counted!

Andy (President)

Cutnall Green YFC

Adam Whiteman and Steph Currie

Cutnall Green have had an absolutely fantastic
year and we can truly say it has been a real team
effort going from strength to strength all year
long to eventually become Worcestershire
County Show winners of 2015! But let’s not get
ahead of ourselves - it’s been a long ride!

The year started, as usual, with the county ploughing
competition, before we even had time to think about
the new Young Farmers year! We were very lucky to
have our ‘professionals’ step up and start the year off
on a high with Sam Rose winning the overall Plough-
man Cup!

Our new members evening went very well at Little
Owl Farm Park in October, recruiting many new junior
members which proved to be vital to our years
success! The competitions started to flow up to Christmas with our bowling
team and knowledgeable pub quiz team both taking away a worthy 4th
Place.
However, from then on we decided we didn’t like the number 4 and got

together at Droitwich Leisure Centre for some
serious sports training for the upcoming
sports competitions. The dodgeball team put
their game faces on, dodging second place
and battling to a much deserved joint first
place with Wythall YFC. The jump rope team,
despite being slightly worse for ware,
managed to hold onto that coordination just a
little longer, coming 1st and who knew we were so athletic with SJ Paskin
and Adam coming first in the senior running competitions and April Allen
and Olly Baldi-Turner coming third in the Intermediate!!

28

Getting a little more serious with the public speaking competitions,
particularly with Tor’s new ‘pub golf profession’, the intermediate
Brainstrust teams uncontrollable giggling, unbelievable confidence from our
new juniors and not forgetting our home grown National Chairman, Hannah
Talbot, standing in as a Martian
enthusiast. We took away some
respectful placings with Alice Howell and
Jack Deakins taking away a first in the
junior public speaking competition de-
spite having only two team members
instead of 3!

Most of you will know, Cutnall Green like
to play hard too! Our footcracker kicked off the social calendar with a great
turnout at the Honeybee in Doverdale. After Adam dropped 60 young
farmers in the middle of nowhere we sipped worryingly on our pints of
cider as they all made it back safely to the pub. Before we knew it, the
festive season was upon us and it was our Christmas meal at the Dog in
Harvington, a night that always lets everyone get to know each other a little
better, unfortunately for Tor she went to bed early that night and Adam

probably should have taken a leaf out of her book.

Christmas is always a little stressful for a Cutnall
Green Chairman, with the Boxing Day Event
looming it was all hands on deck, but with great
support from the club and some slight health and
safety breaches hanging those darn Christmas
trees from the roof, we were ready to party hard.
An amazing turnout of over 300 people at our
‘Winter Woolies Doo’ was enjoyed by all, despite
the somewhat ‘unorganised’ parking from our Vice
Chairman. Thanks to Lucille and Rich Woodward
for the use of their shed and all their help setting
up.

2015 was upon us and this could mean only one thing, its Pantomime time!
Not before a few more competitions to keep us on our toes however! The
first sights of Cutnall Greens stock judging successes were seen in January
at the Stockman of the year competitions with the junior team coming 3rd

29

and the senior team coming 2nd, particularity
amusing with Helen
Calvert beating both Adam and Pete Robinson in
the sheep judging reasons! The hedging competi-
tion was held at Hawford Farm with a great turn-
out and Adam and Tom Baldi-Turner spared a
day from farming to lay a hedge, having great
fun, learning a new skill and taking away a very
respectable 4th place.
Back to the Panto - Tor Howell wrote and
directed an absolutely amazing and original take
on the traditional Pantomime that got the whole
club involved, ‘Even farmers have fairy tales’. The cold nights of January
were spent at Little Owl Farm Park rehearsing our lines. With a cast of 26
this was no easy task, but everyone pulled their weight on stage and behind
the scenes and the club came 3rd overall as well as taking away 1st prize for
the set. Alice and SJ were nominated for the 'Best Act Under 21' and SJ and

April went onto win the best musical act with
their rendition of ‘A Whole New Farm’.

Next was a very wet weekend of fencing and
the MOTY comps. The fencing team did very
well and we learnt a lesson about reading
rules here; however the team should be very
proud of 2nd place against some great com-
petition from Tenbury Wells. Steph and Adam also did very well in the Mr
and Miss YFC competition this day (in the dry) with Adam achieving a close
second to our arch rival, Mr Parry, and Steph coming first and going onto
represent Worcestershire at WMA. Adam did have a very enjoyable night
out for his birthday the night before which may or may not have affected
his result!

We have also tried to keep a focus on charity and this year have managed
to help at many events including the NFU Big Breakfast, British Cycling
Championships and Hanbury Show. We held a Fish and Chip Pub Quiz night
at Cutnall Green Village hall in March with a great turn out of old and new
members, raising over £700 for our chosen charities; West Midlands Aid
Ambulance and Help For Heroes .

30

Before the competition really got underway for the Rally, there was time for
a few more social events to keep the peace! Our second big doo of the year
was upon us, the Point to Point after party in Chaddesley Corbett! This year
took a bit of a turn with a new venue right across from the Point to Point
course, in keeping in with the theme of the Point to Point beer tent very
well! The usual Mob wandered to the pubs of Chaddesley Corbett for a few

refreshments before the short stroll back to the field
at Rowberries Farm later that evening. Another fantas-
tic night, great turn out and some banging tunes from
Rob DJ! Many thanks to the Rowberry family for the
excellent venue.

This was just a warm up for everyone’s
favourite… the National YFC AGM, this year held in
Torquay! Some of our members decided it would be a
good idea to run there alongside our County
Chairman, Matt Tomkins, for this year’s Chairman’s
Challenge. This 160 mile jaunt down the A38 proved
challenging, but all 6 of our members (Steph, Helen,
Rich W, Miles Banks, SJ Paskin and Jane Righton) made
it safe and sound, after running the equivalent of a marathon, with only a
few swollen knees, manky toes and a bag full of stinking, sweaty clothes
before the AGM had even begun! As for the weekend in Torquay, we all had
a great time; we’ll leave it at that!

All Greenies back in Worcestershire, slightly jaded, but keen to get on with
rally preparation! The pre-show day went unbelievably well for us with a sea
of prize cards at the end of the day, much to the surprise of many first
timers – we certainly have Tor Howell and Rachel Gilder to thank for
organising some great training! This put us in great stead for the County
Show, but we were not getting ahead of ourselves, still doubtful with the
serious competition from
other clubs.

However, the weeks of late
nights, early mornings, trips to
The Range, fish and chips and
dancing in a potato shed were
all worth it when on Saturday

31

23rd May, Cutnall Green YFC became Worcestershire County Show
Champions for only the second time in 37 years!! This was overwhelming
to say the least – but we really do feel that the club pulled together to
make this happen and we
are so incredibly proud of
each and every member
for all of their hard work
not just in the run up to
the show, but for the en-
thusiasm we have seen all
year long.

Many members went onto
represent Worcestershire
at the Three Countries
show where we came a VERY close 2nd and our Cube Exhibit even came 3rd
at the National competition later in the year, well done to Vicky Giles, Hol-
lie Smith and Charlie Pheysey.

Summer appeared and all was quiet, time to enjoy the sunshine and
reminisce on our achievements. Getting together for nights in the beer
garden, paddle boarding and the Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition where
Tom and Rich took 1st and 2nd, we’re just showing off now!

Harvest is upon us and we’re battling the rain, but getting ready to
celebrate one last time at our Harvest Supper before handing over the
reins to Tom and Hollie. There are so many people we can’t thank enough
for their support this year. Tor Howell has been an amazing secretary, with
her experience as a past Chairman and her way with the Juniors, we were
sure to do well with her on board. Our treasurer, Sue Symonds has been
our rock, keeping the club in line for many years now, she is an invaluable
asset to Cutnall Green YFC and our admiration goes out to her for carrying
on this year even after the wee man gave us a bit of a scare. Thomas is
soon to be another Cutnall Green heartbreaker!

We would like to wish Tom, Holly and their team the best of luck for the
coming year – give it Welly!

Steph and Adam xxx

32

Inkberrow YFC

Will Parry

On the 23rd of September 2014 myself and
Becky Smith took over the running of
Inkberrow and what a year we had let our-
selves in for.

We kicked things off with a car treasure
hunt social joining up with Cutnall green.
This was both of our first big club socials and the
competition was fierce form the off.

Then came one of the first real competitions of the year in the form of the
ploughing competition. We had just one competitor for this, Matt Cobain
but he certainly didn’t disappoint by pulling a win out of the bag. We were
off to a good start.

Then came the two fun competitions of the year, bowling where we finished
mid-field then the Pub Quiz, which was held at The Fountain Inn, Tenbury
Wells. Clearly Inkberrow are the brains of the county as we came away with

1st and 2nd!

Then came our new member evening
which was held at Inkberrow Bowl
Pavillion. We had a fantastic turn out of
roughly 40 people and managed to gain
10 new members from the night.

Next up was our first doo of the year
and our biggest – the Halloween doo
held at Cladswell Hall Farm by kind
permission of Rob Lea. We had a fantastic turn out with great support
coming from across the county. But we did learn one thing and that was to
not trust Max Wood with a fire extinguisher!

Straight after this was the sports competitions at Evesham where we came
away with Red, Blue and Yellow cards with the red card being won in the
intermediate 5km run by Georgie Perkins.

33

Then came another club twinning with Bromsgrove and this time we went
ice skating to Solihull. There was a large turn out from both clubs and a
great night had again.

Then came the big doo of the year, Winter Wonderland ball. A coach load
of us dressed in our finery left the Old Bull to head towards Malvern, once
again a brilliant night was had by all and thankfully a coach load of worse
for wear members all made it back to Inkberrow.

Moving swiftly on towards Christmas and
the festivities, we went carol singing over
two days. The first night we all headed out
in cars and entertained Mr. Lionel Hill and
many others. The second night Matt Cobain
chauffeured us around in style – tractor and
trailer style. This time we ended up at the
Jordans and by the end of the two nights we
had raised just over £300 for our chosen charity of the year – MacMillan.

Christmas was soon over and this lead us to New Years Eve which was held
in house at the Jordans. Many of the Inkberrow members attended and Tim
Jordan showed off his fantastic firework skills and brought us into the New
Year with a bang.

January was upon us and many of the Inkberrow members went chasing
the snow in the Alps. The weeks flew by and soon came the Stockman of
the year competition at Upton. Once again Inkberrow were in fine form and
came away with 2nd in the Junior team and 3rd in the Seniors. It’s safe to say
we have a strong junior team and they definitely were showing the seniors
how to do it that day.

Up next was our 2nd doo of the year, the Apres Ski doo at the Lenches Club
with again a fantastic turn out from Worcestershire and with snow on the
ground the theme was defiantly
appropriate!

Moving swiftly on Panto season had
started and I think its safe to say everyone
in Worcestershire grew a love of Snow
white and the Seven Eejits. Once again
Inkberrow were undefeated showing

34

everyone how to do a panto properly. We won the competition for the
2nd year running. A big well done also has to go out to all seven of the
Eejits for gaining the best act award.

Then came the member of the year competition later on in February, which
was a very successful day. Alice Bull won Junior member of the year. Becky
Smith was 3rd in Miss YFC and I placed 1st in Mr YFC. Briefly taking a break
from competition several of us
Worcestershire members - four of us
being Inkberrow members took on the
challenge of cycling to Paris to raise
money for the Stroke Association. We
successfully made it to Paris and raised
a large amount of the charity.

Sprinting on into April three of Inkber-
row were following in Matt’s footsteps
Runnin’ on down to Torquay for charity
challenge which was no easy feat. Its safe to say everyone’s motivation was
the fun that was waiting in Torquay in the form of the AGM. A brilliant
weekend as usual and everyone just about made it back in one piece.

After the AGM it was time to knuckle down, as the Rally was a matter of
weeks away. Pre-show day was a fantastic turn out from Inkberrow and
certainly set our sights on the prize. Many prize cards were gained and the

118 sports team stormed the sports
day competition.

This led us on to the big day itself –
County Show 2015. Being the first
on site on Rally morning at the
glorious time of 6am the hard work
on the main exhibit paid off as we
won. This led us off to a good start
and this was improved by 2nd in the
cube exhibit and 1st in the Junior exhibit. Another big well done has to go to
the tug of war girls who gave it there all and placed 2nd to the National
winners. The rest of the day flew by in a blur of monopoly and family
themed competitions and the prize cards soon began to stack up.

35

However when 5pm came tensions were high and nerves were kicking in.
The cups started to be awarded with us taking home many trophies includ-
ing the Afternoon Events cup. Soon on to the big one – the Rally
Championship. After what felt like a lifetime the result was announced and
we were pipped to the post by a strong Cutnall Green. Well done to them,
they were well deserved winners. But also well done to each and every one
of our members who gave 110% in everything.

Rally was over but due to our high
success with the exhibits all three
of them went on to the Three
Counties Show in June. Once again
we were successful with 2nd place
in the main exhibit, and a 3rd in
the Junior exhibit and 5th place in
the cube exhibit. By the time
Sunday evening came and the
exhibit was dissembled, its safe to
say I had had enough of Monopoly
to last me a lifetime. With Becky winning the three counties sheep
stock judging competition.

Trotting on into July, Inkberrow YFC supported a previous chair lady in their
running of Inkberrow horse show. We set up stall doing the BBQ and bar for
the day and had a very successful day with selling out on the BBQ.

Then came our third and final doo of the year, the Wild West doo. Once
again we had a good turn out and the rain didn’t dampen our spirits or stop
us from having a good night.

The year was slowly coming to a close with just the celebrations of the
summer ball left. Top hats and wacky fascinators were on show and a top
night was had by all to close the year.

All that’s left to say is thank you to all of my members for all of your hard
work this year. But also a big thank you has to go out to the bar and BBQ
helpers for he year as we wouldn’t be able to hold as many events in the
year without you. Finally the last thank you’s go out to Becky Smith for
being a great secretary and Steph Jones for her hard work as treasurer. I’d
like to wish next years team all the best for the year ahead.

Will xxxxx

36

Martley YFC

Louis Bowen

We started the year with a good strong a
membership and a great amount of
enthusiasm from all members. We held a
very successful Harvest Supper at The
Crown in Martley and all who attended
agreed it was great to keep the event local and
very tasty meal was had by all followed by a disco.

We have had a very busy social calendar throughout the year which has
seen us visit local farms and a local brewery, all of which were extremely
interesting. Our ethos once again is to go back to our farming roots and do
some of the more traditional Young Farmers activities our parents would
have done within the club.

Some of our members experienced the Winter Wonderland Ball for the first
time this year and had an amazing time. As the majority of our members
are under 16, we decided to have an under 18’s disco at The Crown which

was very well attended by our
members and other younger
members from other clubs. This
event has since been repeated and
each time more people attend from
other clubs and we foresee us
organising more in the future.

Christmas kicked off our fundrais-
ing program with our Martley YFC
Carol Singing tour of Martley! We
enlisted the help of Reverend
Sherwin, our local vicar who brought his guitar and a box of instruments to
help us sound better (we were still awful though!). We also had the help of
James Hislop and his bongo drums which were seen trekking around the
village sticking out of the boot of his car! I felt sorry for the WI who had to
suffer us along with all the unsuspecting diners in the local pubs.

37

They were all very generous though and we had great fun and raised around
£140 for Martley church. This seems to have become an annual event for
the club and symbolises our count down to Christmas.

In February, we organised our annual muck sale around the local area. A
group of us posted flyers through letterboxes around our local villages and
put up posters in local shops and pubs to advertise that we would be

delivering muck for one day
only! We took orders for
around 400 bags of muck
which was great but then
reality struck us that we had
to bag up 400 bags of muck
and deliver them!
Unfortunately, the weather
was against us and it
practically rained all day but
our spirits were not
dampened, we managed to deliver to all of our customers and raised
around £400 for the club funds. It was a very messy and tiring day but great
fun as well. A lunchtime stop off at the local pub helped us through it!

Preparation for the County Show started early and we had a nice willing
bunch of members that were happy to take part both with preparation and
on the day. We spent weeks and weeks on the
main exhibit, planning, painting, discussing and
then changed our minds the week before the
event!
We were pleased with our efforts and did very well
across all events. Harvey Bowen attended his first
County Show as a member and came third with his
garden sculpture called Bertha the Bird Feeder,
she was made out of an old lampshade, an
incinerator lid, the base of an old Christmas tree
and some hessian sacking! Alice Crump did
amazingly well and made it all the way to The
Three Counties Autumn Show and came first for
Worcestershire, Well done Alice!

38

We had some other great results - Georgina and Katie 1st place with their
Salsa dancing and Rosie
winning the cake decorating and as always all participants had an amazing
day.

Socially, we have had a busy
calendar and one really
memorable evening was
Water Zorbing in Chaddesley
Corbett. This was very well
attended by both Martley
YFC members and some
Abberley members. Half of
us were like hamsters in
blown up balls on a lake and the other half were in sumo suits battling it out
in the ring. It was such fun and I am sure we would all jump at the chance of
doing it again.

Martley YFC has had another strong year. I would like to wish our new
committee success in their new
roles.

I have had an amazing time as
Chairman for the last two years
and would like to thank you all
for your support during that time.

I would also like to thank all of
our club members, new and old
for their continued support and
being a young club we couldn’t
run it successfully without the help of our dedicated club leaders, advisory
members and parents.
Here’s to another successful year ahead, Martley!

Louis x

39

Tenbury Wells YFC

Chris Lort and Beth Dennis

Chris and I had hard act to follow after such a
successful year last year from Kathy and
Natalie. However we gave it our best shot
and we must’ve stepped off on the right
foot with a win at the bowling
competition against every other club in
the county.

Then held in November was the sports competition which we
had a large turnout of all members to and we came home with high placing

in the 5km running from Chris and
Lucy Richards. However it’s safe to
say double Dutch jump rope was
definitely NOT Tenbury’s forte! There
were feet and ropes in all sorts of
shapes and directions.
Our Annual bonfire and fireworks
was then soon upon us held again at
The Bridge at Stanford. We had a fan-
tastic turn out and the best firework night financially so far so thank you to
all who attended and to all who helped out with the evening; we wouldn’t
be able to do as well without you.
At the beginning of December the public speaking competitions were held
and once again team Tenbury showed up in good form with the
Intermediate Brains trust team coming 2nd. This was a very good result
considering only 1 member had done the competition before. Then the
senior after dinner speaking team produced some fantastic characters and
speeches to just clinch the win! A fantastic feat considering we were up
against the National YFC Chairlady.

40

Just before Christmas we held our usual carol singing rounds and raised
some money to go towards our usual charity of Tenbury Hospital. Also we
had our Annual Christmas jumper doo which was very successful in
numbers filling out the therapy lounge and a good night was had by all.

We were then quickly into the New Year where we competed in the
Stockman of the Year competition coming home 4th against tough
competition. I think I speak for many people when I say that the standard of
stock judging in Worcestershire has been raised 100% by Rachel Gilder this
year.

Then came the Pantomime competition held again on home turf. Tenbury
were thankfully first on; little did we know that both
Inkberrow and Wythall were doing exactly the same
play! The play Snow White and the ‘Seven’ Eejits –
which in our case turned out to be 5 was great fun to
be part of. A brilliant effort was put in by all and a lot
of cross dressing was done and we came away with a
2nd place just losing out to Inkberrow.
However we did go on the represent Worcestershire
at WMA level where we put on our best efforts but
we were truly out staged by the level of competition
there, but well done all. A special well done goes out
to Tillie Furness who also won best Under 21 Actress
at Worcestershire rounds.

Following that the fencing competition was held at the County office with a
1st place being gained by the team of Dan Bradley, Jono Bradley and Chris
Lort. Another well done for competing on such a dull and drizzly day.

Then came April and the AGM in Torquay this year. 3 of our members, Chris
Lort, Clare Kerby and Ellis Jones ran down to Torquay helping to raise a mas-
sive amount towards Matt’s charities this year, well done not only to our
members but everyone who took part! This year we had 30 Tenbury

41

members in Torquay and a good time was had by all with some ending up
in the sea and others getting a little ‘tied up’!

As everyone knows as
soon as the AGM is over
the Rally is never far
away so we set off full
swing in to preparation
for it. A big thank you
has to go out to Les and
Jean Yarnold for letting
us use their Barn for
exhibits and dancing.

Pre-rally stock judging brought Tenbury home a lot of certificates across the
board leaving us in well positioned at the end of the day. A few special well
dones go to Evie Harris for winning both of her classes and to Kathy Yarnold
and Tom Grosvenor for winning the dairy stock judging overall.

This leads me on to the big day itself – Rally 2015. Thank you so much to
each and every one of the Tenbury members
for competing or taking part on the day. You
guys really put in a great effort as usual.
However results came and this year the
standard of competition was
unbelievable with many clubs having their
eyes on the prize so Tenbury ended up
middle of the board in 5th place. I couldn’t
have asked for anymore from you all and
Chris and I were very chuffed with all of the
results. We have some fantastic talent across
the club.

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A special mention has to go out to our Tenbury Ladies Tug of War team who
once again WON National YFC Ladies competition at Tenbury show on home
turf. This year they went completely undefeated not dropping a single end
to another team at the rally, west midland area AND national finals which is
a seriously amazing achievement. It’s always an absolute joy to watch and I
couldn’t be happier for the girls to have
achieved what they dreamed of yet
again.
The final big event of the year for us
was a new one which was a rounder’s
evening hosted by ourselves, Abberley
(thank you Sarah Coley and Clive James
for doing the BBQ) and Martley. We
definitely did not expect a turnout of
around 70 members coming for 6
different clubs. It just goes to show that
the simple events make the most fun.
Thank you to all who came and enjoyed it.
All this leaves me to say is that myself and Chris wish Aimie, Clare and Chloe
the best of luck for the next year and we hope it all goes as well or if not
better for you than our year has.

Beth xxx (Secretary)

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Upton upon Severn YFC

Will Saunder

What an amazing year Upton Young Farmers has
had! I can’t believe that it has already been a year
since becoming Upton’s new chairman in
September. We began the year off with a trip to the
driving range, before having our new members evening and
heading out for a bit of rock climbing at vertical limit. October brought
Upton YfCs first competition success coming third in the 10 pin bowling.
October also saw Upton coming second in the pub quiz competition. We
finished off the month with our annual visit to the fright mare.

November began with more competition success for Upton in the sports
competitions. With a joint first place for the junior kwik cricket team and
also a first place for John Guilding in the intermediate cross country running.
November also saw us holding our first doo of the year. Our traffic light
party was an amazing success, even if a few people weren’t too keen on the
face paint at the door! After a club bon fire and fireworks party, followed
with a club twinning with Tenbury YFC laser questing, Winter Wonder ball
was upon us.

December brought along more success, this time with Upton placing third in
the intermediate brains trust. We followed this
with our yearly carol singing to raise money for
the MS society. This was a highly successful
evening with a quick trip up to Strensham
services to try and raise a bit more
money!

January came along, bringing with it panto time.
Upton put on a version of Robin Hood, involving
the whole club. January was a busy month
competition wise with both the commercial
dance and the stock man of the year
competition.

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Upton decided to do a slightly altered version of Gangnam style which
came third! With rather a lot of
laughter from the crowd!
Stock man of the year was one of
the biggest successes of Upton
young farmers this year.

Upton placed 1st in every category
with Poppy Burgess and Chris Acock
placing first in the individual
competitions.

February came along bringing with
it three different competitions, the hedge laying, fencing and pantomime.
The hedge laying was a brilliant success with Upton coming both 1st and 2nd
in the junior hedging and Chris Acock and Dan Bown placing 2nd in the
senior and intermediate categories.

The whole club then headed over for the pantomime competition with all
the hard work finally coming to an end with a fantastic version of Robin
Hood. The fencing competition came along, bringing with it one of the
coldest days ever! With cold winds and rain, adding to it rock solid ground
we tried our best to create a tree guard at county office. Even if this did
nearly end up with one of our competitors nearly turning hypothermic!

March brought along our Super
Hero’s vs Super Villains doo.
Once again this was a massive
success bringing in a massive
income to support the club for
the rest of the year. Upton also
held its own Upton YFC British
Bake Off with the expert
judging off some slightly dodgy
looking Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood look a likes! March also lead to
two Upton YFC members cycling to Paris in aid of the Stroke Association.

April brought along the beginning of rally prep. It also brought with it the
National Young Farmers AGM. Four Upton young farmers were involved

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with Matt Tomkins’ challenge of running all the way down to Torquay over
the space of 3 days. This was an amazing achievement for the four of us
with only some slightly tired legs at the end of it!

May then arrived and with it the biggest month in the young framers
competition calendar. Both pre show day and the County show were taking
place in quick succession. Upton carried its previous stock judging success
through to the Pre Show day, bringing valuable points to the rally. Rally day

arrived with Upton placing an incredible third place!!! What
an amazing effort this was by the whole club with all the
long hours of hard work finally paying off! We also began
our incredible success with tug of war with both the Upton
men’s and junior tug of war teams placing 1st.

June brought with it a massive BBQ to celebrate our
amazing success at the rally and a quick game of rounder’s
at Upton rugby club, before the royal three counties show.
The Upton junior Tug of war team carried on its amazing
achievement by winning the three counties round and
coming 2nd in the west midlands area round!

July and August were quieter months with everyone heading on their
summer holidays. The junior tug of war team had no such luxuries though
with the national tug of war competition being held at Tenbury show. The
team placed third!! Third place in the national tug of war competition was
an incredible achievement which we wouldn’t have been able to predict
when we began training back in march!

This past year as Upton Young Farm-
ers chairman has been one of the
best years ever! I have enjoyed
every minute of it and would like to
thank all of the members for helping
me in making this year one of the
best!

Will xx

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Vale of Evesham YFC

Sarah-Jayne Dunsby

Evesham have had a relatively quiet year this
year. We are a small club, as we are still new,
having just completed our second year. This
year we have only met every other week, and
have tried to keep the programme mixed and
interesting. As well as fun activities, such as
bowling and a talks and visits. A particular
club favourite was a talk from guide dogs
for the blind, where an 8 week old puppy,
guide dog in training, was bought in.

Throughout the year we have tried to come together as a club and

take part in a variety of competitions and attend as many social events as

possible. We held our first harvest supper at the Wheatsheaf in Badsey,

where we had a great turn out of old, current and potential new members.
We had a great start to the competition year, where
Dan Albutt came 1st in the ploughing competition.

In the winter months we took part in the Ten pin
bowling competition, where we came second, and
the county quiz. We managed to fill a bus for winter
wonderland ball at the end of November, where
everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

After Christmas our members
have been in attendance at
many of the clubs dos. We even
hosted two of our own parties, one in March, and one
in July, where we raised much needed funds for the
club.

At the end of April, 14 of us made our way down to
Torquay for the National Young Farmers AGM. A great
time was had by all. In May rally competitions started,

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with the first competitions being stock judging and the sports day. We had
a two members enter stock judging, and we entered a team for the sports
day, which was thoroughly enjoyed by those who entered.

23rd May was rally day, a long day, but
everyone had a great day, where we
picked up a few more prize cards, a couple
of which made it through to the 3
counties show, which was held in June.
Slightly concerning was our best
competition being the chairman’s
challenge, which involved Jordan, dressing
a lady, make up and handbag included;
and dancing around on stage. We also
won the Andrea Halford cup for the most
points per member, which was a great
encouragement for next year.

We have also managed to gain
sponsorship from a number of local
businesses, which has helped with
club finances, as well them helping
to promote our club.

As the new young farmers year is
fast approaching we hope to have
another successful year and build
on the successes we achieved this
year. Hopefully increase our mem-
bership numbers and enter more
competitions throughout the year.

Sarah-Jayne xxx

48

Wythall YFC

Ben Smalley

Well then! My year of being Wythall
YFC's chairman is finally up! Phew! It's
been an experience with lots of
amazing times!

One of the bits of advices Edd gave me for my year of
chairman is make notes of the year, trying to remember what
happened 12 months ago is tough……….. I did take his advice, made some
notes but looking at them now, I can't read my own handwriting! #awk!
Luckily, I took lots of photos on my phone to remember what happened!

So then, we started the year with a new members night, which I carried on
Edd’s tradition, arriving late! But when I walked in the room, was amazed
how full it was! Lots of fun and games happened,
including a bin bag costume competition, with Oscar b
and Dan having a dance off, all quite scary!

A bit later that month, we had the club officers training
weekend where myself, Abi and Paige joined the other
new chairman and secretary's from other clubs in the
county! What an experience that was! Dave, I'd like a
table to go with my chair please!

Early November, it was time for the sports
competitions! With a couple of practices,
the teams were keen for the dodgeball,
where we came joint 1st with Cutnall, jump
rope, with Alistair H showing of his poor
coordination once again by going in the
wrong direction to Abi, Ellie B and Becca!
Then was the cross country, where I was

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asked to be 1 of many corner posts, luckily I found a chair!
I can report that all members ran around the course, *cough cough Ellie B*!
The two Meg’s were part of Wythall’s support crew but ended up also being
the support crew for the dark side when Andrew Edwards turned up in work
boots and was told he couldn't compete unless he had trainers! So of the
girls went shopping!

Late November and it was time for the Winter Wonder ball! After Edd’s fun
last year, I was a little worried. But I had 60 odd people to get on the coach,

luckily, they all got on easy! Cheers guys! Arriving at
the 3 counties show ground, it was a relief for me to
get a response from Tom Green that he was feeling
well and not requiring assistance from paramedics!
Cracking night had by all, and thank you to Dave for
counting people back on the coach, following advice
from the county chairman, I was a little squiffy!

After Crimbo, we jumped Into the panto competition,
this year going for “Snow White and the seven eejits!”
This was a great time for me, the club got behind it
and even though we didn't have a rehearsal with a full cast, it went well! I
thought the judges comments about the “Apple” were a bit harsh though!

Soon as panto was out the way, the committee and myself were very busy
onto a fundraising event that I really wanted to bring back from the past,
the frog racing night! A very entertaining night with lots of laughs, especially
when little Jack Warren kept
sitting on his dad's frog during
his race! Huge thanks to
Judith, Paige and my mum for
getting food ready, Craig for
doing a fantastic job adding up
the totes, and to Matt Tomkins
for doings
amazing job as a last minute
stand in as the compare for the
evening!

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