Southern District Field Day, Saturday 20 May 2023
May 22, 2023 • General
Hundreds of Young Farmers and their supporters gathered to enjoy a fantastic day of fun and competitions on Saturday 20th May, as they competed in the Southern District Annual Field Day, which was organised by Crook YFC and held by kind permission of the L&K Group – North West Auctions at the J36 Rural Auction Centre, Milnthorpe.
With over 60 competitions on the day there was something for everyone, including the Lakeland Dialect competition, to produce a piece of prose or poetry entitled “A day at t’auction” which was won by host club, Crook YFC’s Melissa Gorst. Grayrigg YFC’s John Handley took a very well deserved first place in the inter woodwork with his toy farmyard. Robbie Hutchinson also wowed the judges with his senior woodwork farm sign and John Ellis created the perfect Grayrigg YFC hat trick with his first place milk bottle holder. Holly from Furness YFC put her creative skills to good use taking first in the junior ladies day invitation and Crook YFC’s Lola excelled with her scrap book also taking first place.
The 4 uses of black pudding competiton was not to everyone’s taste, but Grayrigg YFC’s Hannah Dodgson impressed the judges with her creations none the less! The junior Goosnargh cakes, a Lancashire delicacy saw Jamie from Pennine YFC take first place and Kent Estuary YFC’s Emma Walmsley was placed first for her open Guinness cake.
There were some excellent results in the fun competitions, with John Cook of Lowick YFC and Martin Woof from Sedbergh YFC achieving joint first place in the senior telehandler competiton. Kent Estuary YFC’s Abigail and Luke showed their creative side and secured first place in the junior present wrapping competition and Georgia, also from Kent Estuary took first place in the junior pedal tractor handling.
The egg throwing competiton proved popular again this year, with George and Jennie from Crook YFC taking first place in the junior competiton and Jack Stringer and Nicole Clegg for Eden Valley YFC achieving the same in the senior competition. Cartmel YFC’s Maisie put her artistic skills to good use, securing first place in the junior drawing on the day and Jenny Wood from Crook YFC was placed first for the senior drawing on the day. Furness YFC’s Brogan Jackson showed how low she could go, taking first place in the inter limbo competition and Cumbria YFC County Chairman and Lowick YFC member, Will Longmire took first place in the open netball shootout competition.
The young farmers created some amazing floral displays which were much enjoyed by all the visitors with Kent Estuary YFC’s Lucy excelling and taking first place in the junior floral competition. Emily from Lowick YFC was delighted with her first place in the inter floral art and Ellie Burrow and Katie Waine took first placings for Grayrigg YFC in the senior and open floral art competitions respectively.
Mrs Olive Clarke, OBE. JP. DL. FRAgS, Honorary Life Vice President of Cumbria YFC attended the field day and took a keen interest in all the competitions, stopping to chat to many young farmers and friends. Mrs Clarke became a young farmer in 1938 and remains to this day an enthusiastic and much- loved member of the Cumbria YFC family. The young farmers were also delighted that the High Sheriff of Cumbria Mrs Samantha Scott and the incoming Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, Mr Alexander Scott, came along to the Field Day to find our more about the Southern District young farmers.
This was the first time that a Southern District Field Day had been held at an auction mart and a huge thank you must go to Mr David Pritchard, Managing Director of North West Auctions who pushed for lots of cleaning and tidying around the site and approved extra work to be done to make the site look its best for the Field Day. Thanks also went to Mrs Harriet Parker, and Messers Neil and Mike Strickland on the yard team who worked incredibly hard over a few days getting the site tidied up and ready. A final thank you to Mrs Katie Black, Company Secretary for being the main contact and for helping and giving so much of her time in the planning and on the day.
David commented “It was a privilege to host the Southern District Field Day on behalf of Crook YFC and we hope that everyone who competed or took part in any way had a successful and enjoyable day. Congratulations to Kent Estuary YFC for winning on overall points but also to everyone who took part, well done! North West Auctions was proud to support the Young Farmers for this event, you are the future of farming and the incredible skills, commitment and organisation displayed on the day was impressive. To Crook YFC, you did yourselves proud in organising such a great event both in the lead up to the event and also on the day itself. Well done to all”
Field Day Chair, Amy Wood and Steven Hodgson, Field Day Secretary also commented,
“On behalf of Crook YFC’s Field Day committee, we would like to thank our President Edward Park and his wife Liz Park for their support and guidance, ranging from being part of organising the BBQ at Tranthwaite Hall, to still giving helpful pieces of advice at 11pm when our committee meetings slightly overran!
A massive thank you to all of our supporters on the run up to and during the Field Day events. We really appreciate everyone who gave up their time to support Young Farmers, it’s very clear to see that Field Day means so much to many people!
We’ve received a lot of feedback from our judges and stewards, they all commented on how exceptional the standard of entries were this year.
We also want to thank all clubs for being so passionate about the Field Day, this drive to do well really sets a great atmosphere for fun competition.
Finally, a huge congratulations to Kent Estuary, our Field Day winners and we wish Lowick YFC the best of luck for hosting the Field Day next year”.
As the day drew to a close, clubs gathered to hear the final results. Amy Wood, the Field Day Chair commented on what a fantastic day it had been, thanking Field Day President Mr Edward Park and his wife, Liz , Chief Steward Mr Ricky Carruthers, Chief Stock Judging Steward, Mr Peter Swindlehurst, Chief Industrial Stewards, Mrs Dorrie Galbraith, Mrs Nicola Swindlehurst, Mrs Jen Armitstead and Mrs Lauren Dixon, Chief Field Day Steward, Mrs Paula Allen Health and Safety Officer, Mr Ken Gibson, Bio Security Officer, Mr George Redmayne and Fire Safety Officer, Mr Alan Backhouse. Amy also went on to thank the Field Day Secretary, Steven Hodgson, Vice Chair, Melissa Gorst, Vice Secretaries Jess Black and Jenny Wood, Dance Secretary, Tim Horsfall and Programme Secretary, Rachael Swindlehurst. Scorers, Mr Stephen Rowlinson, Mr George Taylor, Mrs Christine Hudson, Mr Wesley Gorst and Mrs Louise Wharton were also thanked for their incredible work keeping the scores on the door on the day! Score Board scribes, Northern District Chair and Vice Chair, Abigail Graham and Ella Batey and Cumbria YFC County Vice Chair, Charlotte Wilson who did a sterling job on the PA system were also thanked. Finally, thanks went to the many judges and stewards and everyone else who had helped make the day such a success.
The final results were as follows:
1st: Kent Estuary, 2nd: Grayrigg YFC, 3rd: Crook YFC, 4th: Lowick YFC, 5th: Pennine YFC, 6th: Sedbergh YFC, 7th: Broughton YFC, 8th: Eden Valley YFC, 9th: Furness YFC, 10th: Cartmel YFC.
