July 2019
It was our 40th Cowpie show and what a show we had!
The weather was beautiful and thousands of people descended on
Blue Anchor Farm. The main ring was packed
with displays; from gun dogs, farm
machinery, the amazing Squibb motorcycle
display team, (that literally had the
crowds gasping in amazement), to the
brilliant Sussex Yeomanry display. And of
course our Young Farmers were dashing
from one competition to the next.
The main rings games have never been so close, with Cranleigh and Brockham
the final joint winners and Chobham and Beare Green just one point behind! Well
done Merstham (with a little help from Dorking) winning the Roll Your Bale race.
The Young Farmers marquee was packed with static exhibits,
from an amazing selection of bird boxes and bug hotels,
sculptures from recycled materials, to intricate decoration on
the novelty cakes. Many competitions reflected the 40th show
theme and the standard was incredibly high, making it
a very hard choice for our judges!
It was lovely to see your chicks and ducklings again…..and
boy had they grown!
The stockjudging
competitions were very
closely contested. Tom
Halliday from Cranleigh
and Camilla Banton
from Reigate were joint winners of the Stockman of the
Year competition, with Edward Smith from Reigate, winning Young Stock Judge
of the Year. Reigate were the overall show
champions winning the Junior, Intermediate
and Senior trophies and Brockham winning
the Advisory Cup.
All members who won any of the competitions
were given a special Cowpie celebratory mug,
as were the dedicated Cowpie committee
volunteers, who spend months working behined the scenes preparing for the
show.
We were incredibly thrilled to learn
that Neil Fuller had been awarded the
South of England Agricultural Society,
Award of Honour, which was presented
to him in the main ring at the South of
England show. The award was in
recognition of the invaluable contribution
Neil has made to Surrey Young Farmers
over the last forty years.
Many congratulations to Mia Ferrao, the County Dairy stock
judging champion, who represented Surrey at the National
Final at the Great Yorkshire show. It was a very long day but
an incredible experience for Mia, competing against 34
members from different counties.
Clubs have been invited to take part in the National campaign with Woodland Trust for every member to plant a sapling tree in
November 2019. The environmental benefits of planting trees are very clear - they provide and purify our air, clean and encourage water storage, give our wildlife homes, lock up carbon and make our landscapes green and beautiful. For clubs to take part in this initiative they need to identify a public area where
they can plant trees and obtain permission of the legal landowner. Clubs can then
apply to Woodland Trust for a pack of sapling trees to plant in your local community. These include: Hedge, Copse, Wild Harvest, year Round Colour, Working Wood, Wild Wood, Wildllife and urban trees.
It will be a lovely project to be involved with and will demonstrate YFCs' passion for protecting our environment for future generations, with clubs giving something back to their local community that will last for years.
Reigate have arranged for the Woodland Trust to do a talk on Friday 4th October - 7.30pm Betchworth Village Hall. All clubs are invited to come along, but please let
Stella or the office know if you will be attending.
Many congratulations to all entries that qualified for the
South of England Show. Surrey were hosting the stand and
had three brilliant days at the show. Many thanks to Latisha
Kusay and the team from Reigate who designed and painted
the backing boards with this year’s seasons theme and also
to members from Brockham who helped prepare the stand.
We are indebted to Jane-Ann and Sarah who helped on all three days and in the
lead up to the show and to all leaders, parents and friends who helped at the café.
Surrey did exceptionally well in the static competitions, with Amber Clipperton winning the windchime competition, Phoebe Booker won with her Junior lambing postcard and Latisha won the Intermediate harvest postcard competition. Kayleigh Winderbank-Scott won the Junior animal sculpture with Benjamin Turrington winning the intermediate competition. Reigate won the South East Area club promotion trophy with Merstham coming second.
Catherine Turrington became the Junior Stockman of the Year and will represent the South East Area in the National
final in September. Latisha Kusay won the Intermediate
Sheep and Beef judging. Camilla Banton won the Intermediate Pig judging and came second in the Auctioneering competition. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the stock
judging or had exhibits at the show, as this resulted in Surrey, once again becoming the South of England County Champions and winning the Roland Gwynne Challenge Cup. A fantastic result!
Our Surrey Young Famers calendar will be
available to buy in the Autumn term through your club. It is packed with amazing photos from the winners of our Cowpie competition and will help to promote Surrey Young Farmers. It will also make a wonderful gift…..so who do you know that would love to receive one?
You can find Surrey Young Farmers’ Clubs on: Website www.surreyyfc.co.uk
Facebook www.facebook.com/SurreyYoungFarmers Twitter www.twitter.com/Surrey_YFC Instagram www.instagram.com/surreyyoungfarmers
DIARY DATES 2019 / 2020
Surrey AGM Tue 1st Oct 2019
Indoor Rally Sun 1st Dec 2019
Cowpie Sun 10th May 2020
For any information on competitions or to help at events, please contact Sandra at
County Office on 01737 844528 or [email protected]