SO much for flaming June but the weather hasn’t dampened the spirits of the members of Suffolk Young Farmers Clubs this month, and what a month we have had.

We finished the end of May with our annual rally, held at the fantastic Boundary Farm at Framsden by kind permission of the Rogers family. Despite a chill in the air we had a brilliant day with a huge variety of competitions to test the young farmers ingenuity. From the “arty farty” competitions including Toast Art, Graffiti, Decorated Hats, Cheese Straws, Bow Ties to the “action” competitions including yoghurt eating, innuendo bingo, egg throwing and catching machines, wheelbarrow displays (think Red Arrows but barrows), the amazing Lawnmower Display teams – Tricky Tom really showed his skills, although a lack of clutch gave him a few hairy moments, and our favourite Olympic themed floats which the clubs put so much effort into. The day was won by Gipping Valley in the Junior clubs competition and, much to their surprise, our newest senior club Hadleigh YFC took the trophy in the seniors. We had a great day and the fantastic efforts of our members were another tribute to all that is great about YFC. Huge thanks go to our judges for taking time out for us and to our organising committee for putting on a great day.

Suffolk Show was a great first day and unfortunately due to the weather we couldn’t have our second day. Having taken great risks dismantling the stand on the Friday, we couldn’t agree more with the decision to cancel the show, especially with the RAF Apache parked right next to our stand I was a little nervous for it’s safety.

The Clay Shoot at Easton Farm Park was a good day with the best weather we’ve had for a while. Numbers were down but the Debenham boys did a great job putting on a challenging round for those present. The open class was won by Eric Chapman, the ladies by Pauline Chapman and the colts by Gipping Valley YFC’s Will Faulds. Huge thanks go to Atlas Fram and Berwicks Property Managers for their very kind sponsorship.

We held our Junior Forum at Suffolk Ski Centre to find out what the junior members would like to get from their membership. A great evening of toboganning and discussion on what they would like was very successful and a great pleasure to organise. The junior membership of the federation is the future of our organisation, and from what we heard at the ski centre, the future is very bright.

Our final event of the month was the Best of British Ball held at the beautiful Kenton Hall courtesy of the McVeigh family. The venue, the setting and the attention to detail truly reflected the theme of the Best of British as this venue certainly is one of the best I have seen. An amazing venue, combined with a huge group of Young Farmers all ready to celebrate the end of a brilliant year before we lose all of the workers to harvest (if the rain ever stops), can only mean a fantastic night which it most certainly was.

Looking forward we are winding down now for the rest of the month before the relative peace of August for the office. To all farmers have a great harvest, may the sun shine and the yields be spectacular.