Young farmers from all over Cumbria travelled to the Staffordshire county showground to take part in the YFC national competitions weekend.
The Cumbrians were competing in the junior public speaking, brainstrust, situations vacant (22-28 years), situations vacant (16-21), cube display, fence erecting, auctioneering, farm safety skills, clay pigeon shooting (17 and under and 18 and over), disco dancing and show choir finals.
Will Rogerson represented Cumbria A in the auctioneering and delighted everybody from the county — including his fellow Eden Valley club members — when he brought home first place.
A team from Raughton Head YFC competed in the junior public speaking for Cumbria B and came away with seventh place. Raughton Head young farmers also took their disco dancing outfits down to Staffordshire and took sixth place in that competition.
Penrith YFC represented Cumbria A in the show choir final, singing Pointless, by Lewis Capaldi, and Wake Me Up, by Avicii — led by advisory committee member Janet Kidd and with live accompaniment from Amy Gospel.
What started as a bit of fun for a few of the Penrith members ended up with a group of 20 performing to a high standard. They were placed fourth.
Furness YFC juniors represented Cumbria A in the reading competition and the girls were placed seventh.
The Lowick and Kent Estuary clubs were, respectively, the Cumbria A and B team in the brainstrust competition. Kent Estuary took fourth place while Lowick were sixth.
Rosie Parsons, from Kent Estuary, was delighted to take first place for Cumbria A in the situations vacant competition for members aged 22 to 28. Abigail Graham, from Walton, was second representing Cumbria C.
Moving on to situations vacant (16-21), Cumbria A was represented by Sophie Baker, from Lowick, who was second, and Cumbria C by Ben Handley, from Kent Estuary, who was joint third.
Sarah Emmott, of Greysouthen, was first with her cube display, with Josie Mitchinson, from Raughton Head, taking third.
The fencing competition had two entries from Cumbria A. Kent Estuary’s Will Knipe and James Warmsley and Grayrigg’s Anthony Barnes were placed fourth, while Carlisle’s Lewis Walton, Louis Metcalfe and Richard Graham took ninth.
The Farm Machinery Skills competition was carried out for Cumbria by Grayrigg YFC members Aiden and John Handley, Hannah Dodgson and Joseph Moorhouse, they were awarded 6th place.
The clay pigeon shooting was held at Oakedge shooting ground, Staffordshire, and saw four Cumbrians involved. For Cumbria A in the 18 and over competition, Jack Armett, from Wigton, was 11th and Luke Robinson, from Kent Estuary, was 17th. In the 17 and under shoot, Will, from Kent Estuary, represented Cumbria A and was placed sixth, while Caldbeck member Theo represented Cumbria B and was 20th.
