Wednesday 1st December - East Anglian Air Ambulance

Last weeks meeting was a talk by Paul from the East Anglian Air Ambulance. 

Silsoe members were joined by members from Woburn club to hear about the charity and what they do. 

At the end of the meeting a cheque of £120 was handed over to Paul from the recent raffle at the Bedfordshire Ploughing Match. 

4 out of the 6 'Hairy Harvesters' were there too, who over the harvest grew their facial hair to raise money for the cause!! 

At the moment the boys have raised just over £1200, well done boys 😃

This weeks meeting is Silsoe's Xmas Meal!! 

More great news ...

Today was the public speaking competitions at Box End Kempston. 

The competition that took place were:

Junior Member of the Year

Junior Reading 

Junior Public Speaking

Intermediate Brainstrust

Senior After Dinner Speaking 

Senior Member of the Year 

Silsoe enter 4 of the competitions and did brilliantly! 

Josh, Elena and Will all took part in junior public speaking, staging a mock meeting!  Elena chaired , Will gave a talk on different languages and Josh gave the vote of thanks! 

Overall they came 2nd , with Josh being the best vote of thanks!! 

5 members also entered Junior Member of the Year and Josh was placed 2nd. 

We also had a team in the intermediate Brainstrust . Charles, Philip , Emily and Rupert all did fab and came 2nd overall as well! 

Finally Alice entered the Senior Member of the Year Competition and won! This means Alice will now represent Bedfordshire in the eastern area round of the competition!! 

Thank you to all the advisory members who helped to train the team!! 

Last night - Animal First Aid

Last night members had a meeting with Julia and Jerry from Julia Bonness Vetertainery surgery in Barton all about animal first aid. 

After the talk Julia answered any questions members had.

Then members took part in a quiz to see how much they had learnt and all got a free animal first aid kit. 

The winners of the quiz with 26/27 were Fleur, Suzy and Megan. In second place with 25/27 was Alice and Abbie. (Pictured below) 

We won!!!

I am pleased to announce that the silsoe 'teddy bear' positioned on the A507 near redbourne school made of bales came 1st. 

Well done to everyone who helped make him! 

The full results were: 

2nd - Leighton buzzard combine 

3rd - North Beds Minions

4th - Bedford Tower Bridge

5th - Biggleswade tractor, woburns cow and blunhams man 

Opportunities in Young Farmers

Being a Young Farmer is not just about weekly meetings and competitions , it offers so many more opportunities. 

One major oppurtunity is to travel to places all over the world! Ghana, Canada, New Zealand to name a few. 

Over the past week 1 Silsoe member has had the oppurtunity to go to Scotland on a study tour! 

This particular trip was just for under 18's and lasted only a few days but other trips can last for a month , 2 months or even longer! Pictures are below... 

The guys learnt about developments in the industry of farming! 

Halloween Spectacular - Wednesday 22nd October

Last night members enjoyed some Halloween Games!! 

There was apple bobbing.... 

Battling the spiders web... 

Putting hand in gunge.... 

And ghost hunting ... 

Next weeks meeting is the County Quiz at Biggleswade Football Club. 

Winter Sports Competition - Sunday 19th October

On Sunday 8 Silsoe members played 6-a-side dodgeball with the rest of the county! 

After 7 games Silsoe claimed 3rd place!! The team are pictured below.... 

The final results were: 

5th Bedford 

4th Blunham 

3rd Silsoe 

2nd Woburn 

1st Biggleswade 

Next county comp is on Wednesday 29th October at Biggleswade Football Club for a Pub Quiz!! 

Waitressing at the Oldies Harvest Supper

A few Silsoe members spent last night waitressing at the Oldies Harvest Supper, which is where the ex Young Farmers from around Bedfordshire meet to have a meal together. 

Myself, Emily , Charles, Philip, Jack and Sally (Biggleswade member) all help serve a total of 70 ex Young Farmers. 

Wednesday 15th October - Drumming Workshop

Last night 20 silsoe members enjoyed a drumming workshop by Chris Puleston! 

Members were each provided with a drum to play and another instrument of African or South American origin. 

After an hour and some very sore hands !!! Chris played some other instruments such as the sitar for members and then took some questions!! 

 

Wednesday 1st October - Woburn Country Foods

Silsoe members had a tour of Woburn Country Foods last night. Members had to get suited up for the occasion in white hats, coats and blue shoe wraps. 

Andrew Davies showed the members around the shop, butchers and also cooked some different flavoured bacon for members to try. 

At the end of the night Andrew opened the shop for members to purchase some food. 

Next weeks meeting is at Gravenhurst Village Hall 8pm - talk by Lois Ohara on her trip to Ghana !! 

Saturday 4th October - County Ploughing Match

On Saturday Silsoe YFC competed in the annual ploughing match and farm produce show! 

On the day there was over 50 ploughmen ,young farmers and others, who battled through the rain to get their plots completed! 

There was also a wide range of produce from eating apples to grain samples , to homemade wine and flower arrangements! (One pictured below entitled 'hedgerow' ) 

Overall Silsoe won both the ploughing and farm produce!! Fraser McNicoll won the best ploughing by a Young Farmer! 

Leah Carter and Holly Jones competed in the team event whereby as two complete novices they worked with an 'expert' to plough there plot. 

In the evening silsoe hosted a party for all the young farmers, with DJ Tommy H and around 200 young farmers. 

Members success at National Competitions!!!

Today Katie Parrish represented Silsoe and Bedfordshire at the national floral arts final at the Malvern Show. 

Her arrangements was to depict a War Poem and is pictured below!!! 

 

Katie came 3rd overall , only 1 point behind 2nd who themselves was only 1 point behind 1st place, so a very close competition! 

Well done Katie Parrish!!!! 

Straw Bale Sculpture Competition

All around the county the 7 clubs of Bedfordshire YFC have been busy erecting straw bale sculptures to promote Young Farmers and New Members Week!  

This morning myself, Danielle, Kirsty and Fraser erected silsoe's! 

Next time you go down the A507 , keep your eyes peeled for this fella! 

If you are interested in joining Silsoe YFC then please email silsoeyfc@hotmail.co.uk 

Haynes Tractor Rally Weekend!!

Silsoe YFC spent the weekend at the Haynes Tractor Rally with the pedal tractors, raising money for club funds!! 

Wednesday 17th September - Bowling social

Last night silsoe went to Stevenage leisure park for a bit of bowling!! 

Silsoe YFC Harvest Supper - Tonight....

Tonight's the night!! 

Barn is now ready , remember to bring your own drink! 7.30pm start :) 

Competition Update - Ploughing Match Saturday 4th October

On Saturday 4th October , Silsoe Young Farmers are hosting the County Ploughing Match. One of the classes is a farming selfie aka a 'felfie' , so get snapping guys, the funnier the better :) 

All entries to be given in on the day!! 

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow night current and ex Silsoe Young Farmers celebrate 60 years of Silsoe YFC.

An evening of speeches, food, drinks and reminiscing about the memories of young farmers, followed by dancing at College Farm!!!

Pictures of the event will follow .... :)

Update from the Last Week....

Monday 14th April - County Activities Meeting, Shuttleworth College, 8pm 

On Monday members attended the Activities meeting at Shuttleworth whereby all past and future Bedfordshire Young Farmers Competitions and Events are discussed. 

Main points: 

• County Meeting - April 30th - Treasure Hunt at Wootton Park Farm, Wootton
• County Meeting June - Farm Walk
• Summer Sports changed to the Presidents Scrap Heap Challenge in June
• Rally Posters to distribute around the County have been passed to members. 
• Provisional dates for County Ball 2015 are Friday 30th January and Friday 6th January at Bedford Rugby Club

Tuesday 15th Apirl

Silsoe Girls have been practising Tug of War with the Kempston Ladies team every Tuesday ready for the Rally 'tug offs' against Biggleswade Young Farmers.

Wednesday 16th April - Club Meeting Easter Egg Hunt and Football

Members gathered at College Farm to have a go at an Easter Egg hunt and play some football. 

Messages from the County Organiser and Rally Committee: 

Good Morning Everyone ... Just a quick note about Rally Dance Tickets.

Last year a lot of Bedfordshire Young Farmers missed out on the chance of buying a dance ticket on Rally Day as they had all been sold out, and therefore they were unable to go to the dance.

This year to try and avoid this they are selling tickets prior to Rally Day for MEMBERS ONLY.

On stock Judging day they sold about 125 tickets and they only have about 450 tickets available for members.

The next chance to buy your Rally Dance tickets is at this month's County Meeting on Wednesday 30th April at Wootton Park Farm, Wootton. The Tickets are £8 each if you are unable to go to the County Meeting someone can buy your ticket on your behalf.

Any questions please ask 

Yesterday - Tug of War and Stcok Judging Competition

Yesterday was the 2nd day of competitions which makes up the Rally - the Stock Judging and Tug of War day.

Kindly hosted by the Shaw family at Mortgove Farm, Lilley the day consisted of Beef, Dairy, Pigs and Sheep Stock judging along with Equine Judging, Polutry Plucking and Poultry Trussing. The day ended with the Junior, Ladies and Men's Tug of War Competition. 

Overall Silsoe did brilliantly, the results were:

Junior parry cup
Leah Carter 5th
Will Timbury 4th 
Sophie Timbury 2nd

Intermediate parry cup
Alice Redman 1st

Senior parry cup
4th Charlotte Tomkins
2nd holly Jones

Parry cup team
Holly Jones, Alice Redman and Emily walker were entered in a team and came 1st

Overall parry cup
Holly Jones 4th
Alice Redman 2nd

Ladies tug of war
Silsoe girls won prelims but will pull again at rally day for first place 

Men's tug of war
Boys came 5th 

Unfortunately we don't know trussing, plucking or equine judging results yet

Well done silsoe!!!! 

Fence Erecting and Cookery Competition - TODAY!!

Today was the Bedfordshire County Round of the Fence Erecting and Cookery Competition, kindly hosted by the Hunts at Watergate Farm Hocklife.

In the cookery competition, teams of three had to prepare food for a post war celebration consisting of four different dishes. The Silsoe team, which consisted of Tom Harwood, Emily Walker and Elena Hernanz, cooked a combination of fish fillets, steak and steam puddings. 

The results were: 

1st Biggleswade 

2nd Silsoe

3rd Leighton Buzzard 

4th Woburn

In the Fence Erecting competition their were four teams who had 2 and a half hours to erect a short piece of fence with three different types of join in. 

Our team, consisting of Ben and Sam Jepps and Andrew Redman came 3rd.  Leighton Buzzard came 1st, North Beds 2nd and Bedford 4th. 

Well done Everyone!!

Pre-Rally - Sunday 16th March - Stratton School

Hello Everyone!!

Its that time of year again when Rally Preparations begin...

Firstly we have Pre-Rally this year at Stratton School on Sunday 16th March.

Biggleswade have given the competition day a revamp, please look at http://www.bedsyfc.co.uk/p/members.html

for a list of classes, and contact me to let me know which ones you are interested in doing :)