YFC cash crisis

[Tarw Coch]

I get your point that YFC is not really that deserving as we are relatively affluent compared to say an inner city youth club, but I would hate to see the organisation disappear.
Personally it taught me skills, and gave me confidence, that stand me in good stead even today, as well as contacts over the county and the wider area. The social aspect is very important too, especially in the more rural areas, so I think the clubs will become even more important in the future, they just need to ensure they stay relevant, and change where needed to keep the membership up.

Not forgetting that young farmers raise a lot of money for charity as well as performing charitable deeds.

 

[jondear]

How else are farmers going to find a good woman !

 

[hally]

How else are farmers going to find a good woman !

Thailand?

 

[S J H]

Cancelling the agm was the issue, members will do all the competitions but the reward was the agm p**s up, after all it has to be fun or why would you bother. The arrogance at national level, penalising all for the actions of a minority, was a disgrace. Let’s be honest it’s no worse now than when I was there but there wasn’t camera phones recording the evidence.

And the increase in levy they wanted, was laughable, If anyone was running a business like that, they’d be bust.

 

[lloyd]

Twenty years ago the clubs in Herefordshire struggled to pay the levy ,
our club was about bust but then we started putting on big discos in
village halls .Our best VH party in North herefordshire had over 450 attend at £5 a head ,
when I gave up being a YFC member our club had nearly 10k in it's current account.
I can't remember the local council ever contributing to the cause even though we
raised money for charities and had members who benefited from a social
club that kept them out of trouble ,taught them new skills and provided an
opportunity to network with potential customers for new business start ups.
Of course times have changed and the internet is powerful nowadays but it was
a good lifeline to many.

 

[Stuart J]

And the increase in levy they wanted, was laughable, If anyone was running a business like that, they’d be bust.

What exactly was the increase in levy? What is the membership cost for an English Member of Nat Fed.

In Scotland our members pay £50 a year.

 

[Whitepeak]

National lost their way years ago! Unless you are a county chair or a national finalist they don't seem to offer anything to the grass roots members. They leave that up to the individual clubs. If it wasn't for the competition's program, Derbyshire would have joined up with Cheshire years ago!
Imo the organisation needs wholescale changes, chiefly changing the age range. Too many clubs struggle with retaining senior members or attracting junior members. You can't have meetings that appeal to a 13yr old and a 25yr old. Plus the senior members don't want to babysit the juniors

 

[Katarina]

I do feel that National HQ had lost touch with grass roots members many years ago.
Taking away the AGM was a big mistake and this showed a big lack of understanding at what the organisation was all about.
As an ex County Chairman of Montgomeryshire YFC I can only praise the YFC movement from my time as a member. It has been a second to none organisation giving members great opportunities to develop there own abilities and gain great life experiences along with traveling and making life long friends along the way.
Long may it continue. One thing National need to remember is that once you loose Your members then there is no future.
Depriving members of valued events such as the AGM has been short sighted and counterproductive .

 

[S J H]

What exactly was the increase in levy? What is the membership cost for an English Member of Nat Fed.

In Scotland our members pay £50 a year.

I can’t remember exactly, but it was a hell of a percentage increase,

 

[Farmer Roy]

socially, sporting clubs ( all the various codes of football, oval & round, cricket, tennis, triathlon etc etc ) or the pub have always been the main outlets here
Not to mention rodeos, camp drafting & various other horse related activities.
Young rural people here can be much more remote & isolated than the UK, but there is no shortage of activities to be involved in. I just don’t see the point of a formalised yfc type structure ( in our context anyway )



even better if you get to socialise with a broader range of people than just all “farmers”

 

[Lowland1]

Surely it’s a dying Organisation just based on the numbers. There is declining number of farmers so there’s going to be a declining number of young farmers.

 

[Sid]

Concur with this. Changed my life, got involved in everything that was going & still have friends over a wide area I met in YFC
Just a pity the local clubs no longer have proper formal meetings. Those are skills that are useful throughout your life.
Feeling sorry for eldest Grandson, he is 18, was just getting into everything YFC last winter. Had no social life all summer

No social life?

Pubs and tractor cabs were still full of youngsters

 

[upnortheast]

No social life?

Pubs and tractor cabs were still full of youngsters

It`s life Jim, but not as we know it

 

[lloyd]

Surely it’s a dying Organisation just based on the numbers. There is declining number of farmers so there’s going to be a declining number of young farmers.

Most of the members of our YF club were not farmers but
an age group that mostly lived in the countryside .
You could say It was reaching out to a proportion of our customers and
educating them about farming.

 

[Tarw Coch]

socially, sporting clubs ( all the various codes of football, oval & round, cricket, tennis, triathlon etc etc ) or the pub have always been the main outlets here
Not to mention rodeos, camp drafting & various other horse related activities.
Young rural people here can be much more remote & isolated than the UK, but there is no shortage of activities to be involved in. I just don’t see the point of a formalised yfc type structure ( in our context anyway )



even better if you get to socialise with a broader range of people than just all “farmers”

But it isn’t/wasn’t all farmers, there was a slogan in my day, “you don’t have to be one to be one”
Of my close mates in yfc days, one had a shop in town, one was a welder and one was a mechanic albeit in an ag dealers.
There was also a lot of females who weren’t from a farming background which either fetched new lines Into the farming gene pool or at least helped reduce awkward moments if you’d been spreading wild oats at the weekend as you weren’t likely to run into the non farming girls father in the market.

 

[Katarina]

Surely it’s a dying Organisation just based on the numbers. There is declining number of farmers so there’s going to be a declining number of young farmers.

You'd be surprised how many non Farming member there have been in young Farmers over the years. Its not just for Farmers Young people in rural area have found it a good organisation where you get to socialise and meet up friends and learn new skills.
The organisation has always adapted and maybe that's what's needed now.
NFYFC needs strong leadership who have a grassroots based vision and understanding to take the YFC on to greener pastures. Increasing the Levy dramatically without offering great rewards will achieve nothing.

 

[Katarina]

A big factor to create problems with regards to cost of events over recent years is Health and Safety. Everything needed a risk assessment . Nanny state increasing insurance costs at county and National level.

 

[Tarw Coch]

A big factor to create problems with regards to cost of events over recent years is Health and Safety. Everything needed a risk assessment . Nanny state increasing insurance costs at county and National level.

Yep, all there was to organising a barn dance when I joined was an entertainment licence and a bar licence.
Security was just coming in but anyone a bit burly could stand on the door. Used to use a mates uncle a bit or the local keeper, moving on to some more professional guys.........they wore second hand DJ’s ad drank as much as us young uns

Now security has to be all licensed and one per how ever many head and parental consent forms for those under 18.

 

[Timbo]

A big factor to create problems with regards to cost of events over recent years is Health and Safety. Everything needed a risk assessment . Nanny state increasing insurance costs at county and National level.

Given the scale and membership (at one time) of the Organisation, National had opportunity to lead and pioneer the way H&S and Safeguarding was going, but they sat back and let it become largely unworkable for them.

 

[ih1455xl]

the main problem is what do you get I return for your membership I only used to pay so I could go to skegy area weekend and agm other than them there was no benefit most of the meeting were pretty boring so only went down on a Monday eve for a pint or 2 after the meeting had finished