The County Final of Cumbria YFC Fence Erecting competition was held at Yanwath Woodhouse Farm by kind permission of Mr J. Fisher with 18 teams from around the County.

The task was to erect a 12 metre run of stockproof netting with a joint midway along, by hand.  A 10ft (width) iron gate was hung on the end post, and latched to the post with wire.

 The teams had two hours to complete the task with materials kindly donated by T.W. Relph & Sons.

 Lowick YFC’s team of Stuart Boyren, Michael Woodburn and Thomas Donkin came 1^st completing the task in the allotted time. Sedbergh’s team of Nathan Mattinson, Craig Capstick and Graham Lambert 2^nd and Carlisle’s team of Tom Graham, Chris Roe and Will Hoodless 3rd.

 Judges Alex Sibbald and Ian Potts presented Lowick with the trophy and all 3 teams will now compete at the Northern Area Field Day at Houghall College, Durham on 18^th June 2011.

200 Young Farmers from around the County took part in the Sports finals at Newton Rigg College.

 Mixed under 16’s dodgeball proved the most popular sport with Skelton’s team of Aimee Martin, Hannah Potts, Rebecca Maughan, Eamon Monaghan, Joseph Nichol, Josh Graves, Jonny Pickup, Luke Mitchell and John Murray coming first, Eden Valley YFC 2nd; Carlisle YFC 3rd and Raughton Head YFC 4th.

 Skelton had dominated the competition, winning all their games but Eden Valley put up a good fight in the final.  Umpire Rob Jones of the Dodgeball Association was extremely pleased to see so many young people thoroughly enjoying the sport.

 In the ladies over 18 football, Pennine beat Grayrigg 2-0 in the final with Crook 3rd and Kent Estuary 4th.  Pennine’s winning team consisted of Chloe Chapman, Megan Robinson, Laura Smithson, Hayley Pattinson, Leanne Wilson and Helen Hayllar.  In the qualifiers Grayrigg had beaten Pennine 3-1 but Pennine managed to pull it back in the Finals.

 Men’s 7 a-side hockey was won by Dennis Sharp, Nathan Dobson, Isaac Dobson, Stuart Lambert, Sam Wilkinson, Dan Rooke and Richard Barton of Kent Estuary YFC in 2nd place were Carlisle, 3rd Crook and 4th Grayrigg.

Cumbria Young Farmers Triumph at National Competitions Day

50 Cumbrian Young Farmers plus supporters travelled to the National headquarters of the Young Farmers Clubs at Stoneleigh. They had previously competed at District, County and Northern Area level to have the honour of representing the North of England in a variety of competitions.

Following on from Cumbria’s excellent results at the Dairy Event and the Malvern and Berkshire Shows, the Young Farmers once again were a credit to Cumbria.

 In first place was Andy Bell of Caldbeck with his metalwork representation of the Cumbria’s emblem and Emma Blaylock from Longtown with her painting of a Cumbrian scene.

Caldbeck’s Laura Potts, Emma Armstrong and Rachel Graham came 2^nd in the National Final of the Junior Speaking Competition and Andy Bell and Stuart Coulthard came 3^rd in Junior Efficiency with Safety.

Meanwhile on the sports field, Carlisle YFC were 3^rd in the mixed hockey.

Drigg YFC came 5^th in both the folk dancing and debating competitions and Aspatria were 7^th in Intermediate Brainstrust. Crook’s debating team were placed 10^th and Grayrigg and Sedbergh’s County Pictures were placed 9^th and 21^st.