Cornwall games evening

Many of our members made their way down to bodmin for a county games evening which involved activities such as quick cricket, netball, frisbee and running.  we are proud to announce that Launceston came second and will know go on to the next stage held in Camborne.

Launceston YFC halloween disco

Launceston yfc held there annual Halloween disco which was a great success with people from all over the county attending. With thanks to trethorne for the use of their fantastic facility and to dj pasty for keeping the music going.

Annual quiz

President Trevor Shute hanging over the cup to NFU team member, Simon Burden.

YFC 38

Farmers Club 39.5

NFU 48

Indoor sports night

Dinner and Dance

The annual Launceston Young Farmers dinner and dance was held on the 24^th September at Trethorne Leisure Farm. Members enjoyed a 3 course meal including carvery followed by speeches for guest speakers and then the prize giving. The Revd. Roger Greene started the speeches by proposing agriculture, which was seconded by former Launceston YFC member and club leader Andrew Hosking. Country Chariman Georgina Monk proposed ‘our club and movement’ which was followed up by our club chairman, Oliver Stephens. Cups were given out afterwards to members that have achieved well in the year, gaining most points in various competitions.

New members evening

New members evening this year was held at Trethorne. Around 10 new members came to the meeting where we had ago at 10 pin bowling so that they could meet existing members and find out what we do in club.

Bale sculpture for YFC week

As part of national young farmers week, all the young farmers clubs in Cornwall made a bale sculpture to promote the movement and their club. Did you see our pig? It was on the A388 by the crossroad for Duchy College, Stoke Climsland.

Wooden egg competition

This week saw the return of the 'wooden egg' competition after its absense from the yfc programme for a few years. members from YFC, farmers club and the NFU gathered at Treburley Social Club in a competition to see who was best at skittles, darts and pool. Well done to the NFU for winning the evening beating the farmers club (2nd) and yfc (3rd).

County sports day

This Sunday we went to Truro school for county sports day. Members participated in men's football, womens netball, as well as mixed hockey and rounders. Well done to our hockey team who won again at Sports Day today and all who competed in or supported the football and rounders. Well done also to Isy Heal who played netball with Camelford and helped them win!

Presidents night - Plymouth aqarium

Tim Bebbington treated us to a trip to Plymouth Aquarium, where we were given a guided tour of the aquarium, whilst on the way around the tour guides gave us interesting information about the different areas and animals in them. Snorkle the epileptic Turtle had to be one of the favourites. We were taken to the shark tunnel and treated to a wonderful spread of food. Thanks must go to Tim and his family for organising the evening.

Girls entertain boys

This year the girls treated the boys to an exciting and action packed evening on the total wipeout style course at Retallick Resort. Everyone enjoyed the evening, it is definitely something we could do again. After struggling out of our wetsuits we headed to Padstow for fish and chips. Thanks to Hannah Gribble for organising the event.

Beach BBQ

This evening we headed to Widemouth Bay for a beach BBQ, with the weather being slightly miserable only the very bravest members decided to go for a paddle in the sea. During the evening Amy and Dan very kindly cooked the BBQ for us all. Thanks must go to them both.

Okehampton show

Tonight we decided not to have a club evening, but instead we would have a meal at the White Hart in Okehampton and then go on to Okehampton Young Farmers after show dance.

Farm walk to the Wills Bros

For our second farm walk of the year we headed to the Wills Bros farm near Wadebridge, for an extremely interesting tour and talk about their farm. When we arrived we all jumped on a trailer and we travelled along the farm tracks up to the fields where they had diversified into rearing partridge for the shooting season. We learnt all about this side of the business before heading back to the main farm where we looked into the cubicle housing at all the cows where we had a chance to ask any questions.

County rally

Today we headed down to Lostwithiel for this year’s county rally, thank you to everyone who came down and entered any static entry they all looked great and it was great to be able to enter nearly the whole schedule. Even with the rally sports practice earlier in the month, we still didn’t seem to have the knack of the sports, not doing overly well. Although we didn’t win the rally shield again we came an amazing 2nd place. The last competition of the day was the tug of war, a massive congratulation to the girl’s team who came out on top.

Launceston show

It wasn't long and Launceston Show had come around again. With a good number of entries throughout all the classes the tent was looking really good. The YFC tent once again proved to be a busy one, with refreshments on offer, as well as a name the sheep competition where proceeds when to charity. The Launceston YFC choir sang in the members tent to mark the end of the show, and we all went to the white horse for tea.

Launceston show prep

Tonight we decided that we wouldn’t meet for a club night, but let the Launceston show cubicle teams meet to try and finish their cubicles.

Dry stone walling

Barry and Gareth Jones split us into 2 groups to take on a side of the wall each. The teams with varying levels of experience were looking carefully to ensure they didn’t have 3 joining edges and for the perfect shaped stone. A delicious supper was put on for members afterwards.

Launceston Show Schedule

Launceston Show is fast approaching.

The deadline for live or dead stock is 14th July.

The deadline for all other static entries is 21st July.

Find the show schedule here...

And the set cake recipe here...

It would be great to see as many entries as possible in the marquee to show why Launceston YFC is the cream of the crop!

Visit to Lamerton Hunt Kennels

Tonight we joined with Callington, Tavistock and Lewdown Young Farmers for a talk and tour at the Lamerton Hunt Kennels. On arrival we were given a brief talk about the kennels before being taken around the premises. We were then given a talk about the dogs at the kennel whilst they were let out to run around. The evening was rounded off with a competition to select the top 3 dogs and bitches. The winners received prizes donated by Mole Valley, before we were treated to a pasty or two for some members.

Summer Do at North Helescott

After being given kind permission from Jon Frayne to use his barn for our Summer Do 2016, the time had soon come around for the preparations to begin. With the barn walls sheeted and sand on the floor it was just the final touches to make on the day. The party was a great success with DJ Pasty keeping the party going long into the night. Thanks must go to Jon Frayne for allowing us to use his barn and to anyone else who helped behind the bar, bbq or during all the preparations and clean up.

Visit to Dartmoor Brewery

Princetown was the destination for tonight’s visit. Once members had battled their way through the thick fog we were split into two groups, one to stay in the bar where you could drink as much of the many different types of ale that were available, whilst the other group was being taken on a tour of the brewery. We were talked through the whole process from raw ingredients to the bottling plant, and he told us that it was the brewery with the highest altitude in the country!

SWA Competitions Day

This year SWA competitions day was in Dorset. Holly Yelland came a very respectable 8th place in senior stockman of the year. Jack Pannell came 5th with his weathervane and the men’s tug of war team came 4th. Well done to them all.

Sports Practice at Coronation Park

With the Olympics and YFC rally fast approaching, it was decided that this year we would have a practice of the rally sports before the day. The plank race, sack race and a carrot relay were all games we played in Coronation park, with passersby probably wondering what on earth we were doing! The evening was rounded off with a game of rounders before heading into the White Hart. Thanks must go to Holly Yelland for organising the evening.

Launceston YFC EU debate

Leading up to the EU referendum this week, Launceston YFC held a debate at the rugby club on Saturday night to help people decide which way to vote. Club chairman, Oliver Stephens, chaired the evening with guests George Eustice MP (Leave) and Lord Tyler (Remain) as the speakers. The evening was also opened up to the Farmers Club and NFU so they could have input too. Some good points were put across by both sides, and there was some heated debate as to which way we should vote. Over 50 people were in attendance, many thanks to both speakers.

Sheepdog training

On the 16^th June, we travelled to Collacott where we met up with Bill Muggeridge who trains sheepdogs. He started by telling us how to talk to dogs, and said that they have good hearing so there is no need to shout! He bought his 3 dogs along and demonstrated to us what they can do, with very little input from him. Club members were welcome to bring their own dogs along for the evening to get some tips and see how they can be improved. Thanks to Bill and also the Uglow family for the use of their land, sheep and for the refreshments.

Royal Cornwall Show

Royal Cornwall Show was soon back again and as usual the YFC tent was full of craft competitions and of course the cubicles. The theme for the cubicles this year was inventions over the past 200 years, and we were given 1931-1940 to base our cubicle on. The UK was at war at the time, so the background was a war scene of London with some inventions and food from the time to decorate it. Otherwise in the tent, there were art classes and flower arranging to name a few of the other competitions, and also a club mascot competition.

Royal Cornwall Show preparations

Today the cubicle for Royal Cornwall Show has been taken down to the showground and put into place, ready for the show starting this Friday!

Competitions day

The 29th May bought the annual Cornwall YFC competitons day, this year being held at Trecarne Farm just outside of Newquay airport. One of the main competitions of the day is stock judging, where you order dairy cows, beef bullocks and lambs in the best order and give reasons. Launceston had several people entering the different classes, so we were bound to do well. We won two cups for stock judging, and well done to Holly Yelland and Sam Thomas who won senior stockman and young stockman respectively. Well done also to the cookery team who go through to represent Cornwall at the next round.
To finish the day, the was a rounders competition and then the tug of war. Launceston have a very strong team for both mens and womens tug of war teams. The teams were very equally matched in both competitions, and the girls done very well to achieve second place. Congratulation to the mens team that won the mens round! Despite losing to the second place team in the heats, they could hold on at the end when it mattered to win over all. Overall Launceston won the day with their strong performances, and a lot of fun was had at the disco in the evening.

The paint a bale competition. Poor effort!

 

The final pull

The mens and womens tug of war teams

 

Boys entertain girls

For boys entertain girls this year, the boys had arranged archery for them at Launceston cricket club. Despite the poor weather, a good number of people turned out to have a gland try their hand at archery. After a few practice goes each, we split into three teams and had a small competition to see which team could get the highest score, with each member having three shots each. A good night was had by everyone.

Charity cheque presentation

This week a cheque was presented to last years charity, the British Heart Foundation. Last years Chairman, Nathan Dinnis and Secretary Lauren Cornelius returned along with Hazel Cartwright from the BHF to make the presentation. £2592 was donated to the charity from fundraising that was done between October 2014 - 2015. This includes activities such as the annual dung run, and the Jack Glanville entertainments evening that was held in March 2015.

Also this evening, we had a talk from past Launceston YFC member, Edward Humber. Ed currently works for the NFU as an advisor, and has been involved with the task of mitigating bovine TB. Ed described the challenges the NFU are faced with when dealing with the government and lobbying for changes to legislation, and told us what we can expect farming to do in the future.

First Aid 4 Life

On the 19th May, we had a talk at the white hart from First Aid 4 Life. Sam, an outdoor instructor, and Stella, an occupational therapist took the session, and started off by showing us some pictures of on farm accidents, and by telling us some facts. 160 farm workers get fatally injured every year on farms, and over 14,000 have been injured in the part 5 years. They talked us through some basic first aiding including how to stop bleeding, the correct way to do CPR, and also showed us how to use a defibrillator, which are getting more commonly used these days. It was a very informative session that will be useful to know.

Farm walk

 

This week we went down to West Antony Farm, near Torpoint, by kind permission of Mr Jeremy Oatey. The farm is rented from part of the Antony estate, and is mainly arable with some sheep. Jeremy explained that there were a large selection of crops grown on over 2000 acres across Cornwall. They are the only growers of onions in Cornwall, all of which goes to Ginsters so they can put Cornish onions in their pastys. They also grow several daffodils every year, and he told us how he is reliant on the workers from eastern Europe to help pick them every year. As well as looking around his land, we looked at all the cold storage for potatoes and onions, as well as looking at the vegetable processing line where they prepare and package any type of vegetable.

National AGM

Between the 6th and 9th of May, the National AGM and annual convention was taking place at Blackpool. Launceston YFC member Matt Coles chose to travel there as part of Cornwall YFC's Wotnot challenge, where they cycled to Blackpool for charity. Very well done to him for completing this challenge. Other club members stayed up there for the weekend to participate in competitions and go to parties.

The Sunday saw the final of the choir competition, in which Launceston were representing Cornwall and the south west. Eight choirs from around the country were taking part and competition was stiff. We started practicing back in October, and managed to win the Cornwall round, and joint first at the Southwest Area round to get to the finals. We achieved 6th place in the end which was still a great result.

Create at Penbugle

This week May 5th, members travelled down to Penbugle where members had a go at decorating clay molds. There were a selection of shapes they could decorate, cows, tractors and egg holders. Liskerard YFC member Maddie Ridout instructed everyone on what to do. The finished products will be entered into Launceston show in their own class.

Circus skills

This week, ex Launceston YFC member Richard Gribble came to the White Hart to  teach us some circus skills. He started the evening by introducing himself and telling us how he came to knowing circus acts. He explained that there was a young farmers entertainment competitions, and he learn a few things for that, and it escaladed from there. He taught us juggling, diablos, plate spinning amongst other things. He also demonstrated his unicycle and a few of us tried the stilts. A good night was had by all.

Royal Cornwall Show cubicle prep

Its the time of year again where we need to prepare for the summer competitions and shows. Thursday the 14th April we went to the Trehane's farm at South Petherwin to make a start on the cubicle for Royal Cornwall show. This year, the theme is inventions from the past 200 years, and we have been given the time been 1931 and 1940

Stock judging

Stock judging is considered one of the key skills that you learn at yfc. There are many competitions to enter throughout the year so as our training night, we went to the Thomas family farm at Treguddick to look at beef and lamb. Tim Bastard showed us what to look for in a beef animal and that the hind quarters and loin are of greatest importance. We had to order the four animals in which we thought was best, and had a competition between members. Well done to Sam Northey for winning this one. Stuart Cornelius showed us the lambs and told us that they are much the same to judge as the beef. Once again we had a competition and Sam Thomas won this time. For the dairy animal stock judging, we went up to assistant club leader, Roger Parsons farm. Here, Michael Smale joined us to tell us what to look for in dairy cows. These are judged in a completely different way, as we are judging for its ability to produce milk, opposed to meat. Oli Stephens, Heather Stanbury and Nathan Jeffrey were joint winners of the competition to order the animals in the right order and give reasons.
Thanks must go to Tim, Stuart and Michael for the training, and to the Thomas family and Roger for being hosts for the evening.

Charity sponsored walk

As an extra fund raiser this year, we undertook a sponsored walk for our charities Cornwall Air Ambulance and CLIC Sargent. The walk startes at Padstow church to walk the Saints Way, which is a recognised walk across Cornwall to Fowey on the south coast. That totals 28 miles altogether, so as it is not possible to walk in a day, we stayed the night in Lanivet church hall. 9 people started the walk at around 9.30 and soon increased to 10 as we met Evie soon after we started. We stopped for lunch around 1pm at Hustyns. We continued to walk after lunch and got to Lanivet around 4.30 where we enjoyed a meal at the Lanivet Inn. After bacon sandwiches on the Sunday morning, we set off with 6 more walkers, taking the total to 16. Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind in the morning, and we soon got soaked! The terrain was a good mix of roads and tracks, with the odd muddy trail! We got to Fowey around 3.30 on the Sunday and enjoyed an ice cream, although we were all a bit worse for wear. We raised over £500 for charity with our efforts.

Swimming

To end march this year, we stayed local to go swimming at the Phoenix Leisure Centre in Launceston.

East vs West rugby match

The annual East vs West rugby match between east and west cornwall was once again held on the Thursday night before Good Friday. Kick off was at 7pm, but the weather was not kind, with rain falling during the whole match. Well done to the 8 members of Launceston YFC who helped East Cornwall win 19-0. The team was captained by our own chairman, Oli Stephens, and thanks must also go to Lloyd Duke for his time taken coaching the side. Following the rugby match, it was the Spring Fling disco in Camborne Rugby Club. It was a well attended event and there was also a barbeque.

Livelihood Forum

This year sees the Livelihood forum return to the programme after a break for a few years. This is always a fascinating night with a panel of guest business people to talk about their working lives and how they got to where they are. Three very different businesses talked to us, each with equally interesting stories. Firstly we had Joe, from Penpont brewery. He started by saying how he had an idea with his friend about how they could brew their own beer, and his friend had a spare shed. After a while, the businedd grew and eventually founded the Firebrand restaurant to sell his products. He explained how he has set up a crowd funding project online to raise money to expand the brewery. Our second speaker for the evening was Andy Berry. Andy and his wife have founded Berry's Agriculture, a specialisty suppliuer of grass seeds, chemicals and calf rearing to local farms. To keep the costs to the farmer as low as possible, theyve chosen not to have a shop, but to do the business at the farms by travelling around with a van. He told us about his past jobs woking for the Ministry of Agriculture before studying at Seale-Hayne. Lastly, we had Lesley from Anytime Anywhere caterers. She was from a farming background and went to college to study food. After working for a catering company for a few years, she chose to return to home and set up her own business. The business quickly grew despite barely ever advertising! After sevral years of top quality catering, she told us how they are scaling back now, as they have recently expanded their farm which they want to concentrate on, and also the arrival of children meant they did not have the time.

Visit to Mole Valley Farmers

This week, we went into Holsworthy to take a look at the new Mole Valley store that has recently opened. We were shown a short presentation in the new meeting room about the history of the firm, and some of the facts and figures. We were also told about how the company has expanded recently by taking over other businesses up country, thus increasing turnover. We then split into two groups where we had a tour of the main shop, yard and feed stores. We returned to the meeting room after that, where refreshments of chocolate and lemon cakes were served, and we were free to ask any questions. Mole Valley kindly sent us all home with a free gift, a flask!

Southwest Area Competitions Weekend

This year, the Southwest Area competitions weekend was returning to Weymouth. Around 25 members chose to spend the whole weekend up there competing in various competitions and going to parties. It was also time for the dancing, show choir and member of the year competitions at southwest level. First of all it was the dancing on the Saturday night, where Launceston gained a well deserved 2nd place. They gave it it their all, but it was Devon that came away victorious. The other two competitons we taking place on the Sunday afternoon in the pavillion theatre. Club chairman, Oliver Stephens was taking part in the member of the year competiton after winning the Cornwall round. He did very well to acheive third place, competition was very strong. Following this, it was the drama competiton. Launceston chose not to enter this year, but cornwall was represented by St Buryan who came third, Somerset came first. Finally it was time for the Show Choir competiton. Teams from Devon and Somerset were also participating and as we were last to perform, we knew what whe had to beat. In the end, we came joint first with Devon - the judges couldnt pick a winner! Both teams will go ahead to the national finals to represent their counties and the South West in Blackpool on 8th May.

View over Weymouth

First, second and third

Joint first choir

Bowling with the Farmers Club

On the 3rd March, we took to Trethorne for a few games of ten pin bowling. Some keen members of the Farmers Club joined us to see if age had any effect on performance! A good time was had by everyone.

Kernow martial arts

James and Ellena from Kernow Martial Arts came up to Trethorne to teach us some basic martial arts and self defence. James told us about the courses he currently runs in Cornwall and how it is important to be able to defend yourself. We had a god at kicking each other using the sponge pads, and also taught us how to get out of certain situations.

Oli being held down to the floor by James

Dung Run!

After a damp start, it was time to sell our dung that we bagged. Over 450 bags of dung were sold this year , with proceeds going to our charites of the year clic Sargent and Cornwall air ambulance. Photographer Paul Hamlyn joined us on our tounds sellinng dung taking pictures for local papers. After a busy morning, we went to the White Hart Hotel in the square for a carvery dinner.

Wine and Wisdom

30 teams of quizzers packed out the town hall for this years wine and wisdom. Quiz master for the night, Simon Burden had prepared a well varied range of questions to suit everyone, with topics varying from sport to agriculture. Nibbles were available throughout, and cheese and biscuits were served after three rounds, Well done to Quite intelligent, Grandma's Guess and Fish and Chip Supper for gaining the top three places respectively, congratulations! Well done to everyone that took part, and thanks must go to Simon Burden.

Talk by Scott Mann MP

On the 18th February, we were lucky enough to have our local MP, Scott Mann talk to us at the White Hart. Members of Camelford YFC also joined us to listen to Scott talk about his past and how he got into politics. He told us how he had originally studied finance with the aim of being a banker, but after a few years he didn't like it and wanted a job outside, so chose to be a postman. He stayed in this job for 20 years before becoming the MP. He joined the local council at Wadebridge when he was just 29 to try and improve the local housing situation, and it extended from there to eventually being elected for MP. He then asked us to ask him questions about what we thought the local issues were regarding young people in rural communities. We had in depth discussions about education, badger culling, and he also told us why he thought it was better for the area if we were to leave the EU. A short business meeting was held after the talk.

Bagging dung for dung run

Around 15 members of Launceston YFC gathered at Hurdon Farm to bag dung for dung run. Around 450 bags were bagged on Sunday afternoon, ready to be delivered on the following Sunday, February 21st. Thanks to Heather Stanbury for the dung and the refreshments after.

Visit to Crediton Milling

This week, we ventured up into Devon to visit the feed mill, Crediton Milling. We were split into two groups and we went on a tour around the different buildings. Our guides explained all the different ingredients that go into the different feeds, and showed us the storage facilities of the raw materials. We were then guided through how the system works and looked at the machines working. We also looked at the loading bays where the lorrys get loaded. They get loaded in the evenings so that when the lorry drivers get there at 5am, they are all ready to go. There are 15 lorrys in total that deliver animal feed from the site on the edge of Crediton. We were also shown the control room for the mill, which has recently been upgraded to new software. Two 26" monitors and one 50" displayed everything that was going on, and they were able to show us the process in a more simple view.

Talk by Rodda's

On the 4th February, we had a talk by Mr Rodda telling us about his families dairy product business. He started with a brief introduction about the company, then showed us a video that was from a TV program filmed about them. The video showed us the history of the company and how they've grown over the years. It also said how much their religion had played a role throughout the years. After the video, Mr Rodda wanted our questions and he also showed us some old contracts and pictures. He bought along some butter, custard and creme fraiche for us to take home which was very kind of him.

Interclub challenge.

On Thursday 28th January, we held our interclub challenge at Trethorne. We invited several local clubs including some from Devon to take part in games such as bowling, darts, jenga and twister. On the Saturday night, it was the Cornwall YFC Interclub challenge, also at Trethorne. Once again, a brilliant evening of fun and games was had for our annual competitions of Bowling, Pool, Dodgems, Pub Quiz and Club Member of the Year. It was brilliant to see all clubs were in attendance, well done for getting teams together! We wont the evening gaining 14 points from the competitions. Congratulations also to Stratton YFC for achieving second with 12 points, and to Threemilestone and Liskeard for joint third with 9 points. The disco by BK followed the competitions. Record numbers packed the room with people dancing the night away.

Annual quiz

Congratulations to the NFU team that won the annual quiz this year. Every year, four members of the YFC, farmers club, and NFU compete against each other to see who will win the cup for the year. The NFU team put in a solid performance with a total of 26 points, in comparison to 18 points from the farmers club, and 17 from the YFC. The questions were very tough, but covered a wide range of topics. Thanks to club president, Tim Bebbington for being the quiz master for the evening.

Success for Launceston YFC at County finals

The winter competitions have been underway in the New Year, with Launceston YFC winning the dancing, singing and member of the year competitions at the county finals. On Saturday 16th January, 8 members of the club won the Dancing round at Liskeard. They had to do four dances to the theme of ‘tomorrow’s world’ and use different dancing styles. The following day was the choir and member of the year competitions at St Ives. 17 members took part in the choir, where they had to sing two songs, one of which had to be from the TV series ‘Glee’. ‘All You Need Is Love’ by the Beatles was chosen, and also ‘Cornwall My Home’, a Cornish anthem. Competition was strong, but they pulled it off with a worthy 89 points. Thanks must go to Sally Grigg for the dance coaching, Roger Williams and Janet Ham for the directing the choir. Member of the year competitions were also held at St Ives on the Sunday, where club chairman Oliver Stephens won senior member of the year. Applicants for this go through a series of interviews and challenges, and it’s a great achievement. Congratulations also to Nick Uglow, who reached second place in the junior member for the year, a very respectable result. Well done to everyone that has taken part.

Parents Evening

The annual parents evening was upon us, and this year it was held at St Joseph's School hall. Club chairman Oliver Stephens and secretary Matthew Halls invited parents and friends there, where they went through a run-through of the previous year. It was said that it had been another great year for raising money for last years charity, the British Heart Foundation. After a short interval, YFC members performed to the parents the dances and songs the choir had been doing for competitions, and also a short piano piece by Tom Sharman, a pianist that has been helping the choir this year.

Visit to Plymouth panto - Cinderella

For the yearly pantomime trip this year, we chose to return to the Theatre Royal at Plymouth, after a break last year where we went to Lewannick. The pantomime this year was Cinderalla, and featured Gok Wan as the 'Fairy Gok Mother' and Paul Zerdin (Americas got Tallent Winner) as buttons. As to be expected, the night was filled with laughs and silly jokes, and was well worth going to see.