YFC cash crisis

[lloyd]

It's called Rural Youth in Oz

I didn't know that so go on give it a stab.


Rural youth UK ?R.Y.U

 

[jondear]

I think one of the wildest AGM's I went to was to Butlins at Minehead in the late 80's, early 90's. Now that was fairly away from prying eyes but we still made the papers for allegations of members slaughtering ducks and cooking them for their Sunday dinners. Well they were half tame paddling about between the accommodation blocks. At least we didn't get the front page of The Sun, that was taken by a Young Conservative Party conference at Bournemouth where they ran riot on the seafront and terrorised the local oap's, we only got a page 6 mention!

I went ha ha I remember !Shallets were enlarged to accommodate parties .I remember the state of the gents at the massive discos they had never seen bars so busy !
Disgraceful behaviour really but it was fun and I was only 18 !

 

[Banana Bar]

I think one of the wildest AGM's I went to was to Butlins at Minehead in the late 80's, early 90's. Now that was fairly away from prying eyes but we still made the papers for allegations of members slaughtering ducks and cooking them for their Sunday dinners. Well they were half tame paddling about between the accommodation blocks. At least we didn't get the front page of The Sun, that was taken by a Young Conservative Party conference at Bournemouth where they ran riot on the seafront and terrorised the local oap's, we only got a page 6 mention!

Those ducks were as tough as old boots.

IOM in late 80s / early 90s was fairly wild too.

 

[Farmer Roy]

It's called Rural Youth in Oz

so where are these rural youth clubs ?

I have vaguely heard of “rural youth” but know nothing more than that ?

as I said earlier, it’s mainly sport / pubs / camp draft / rodeo type events here for socialising amongst young people ( & old )

Apart from agri / political farmer organisations ( like your NFU I suppose ? ) or farmer agronomy / info sharing groups, I don’t know of any organised rural focussed “social” groups that are the equivalent of yfc here

 

[Johnnyboxer]

1979/80 ? AGM in the Isle of Man was pretty lively and the ferry trip was quite dangerous.

I think I went to Blackpool in ‘82 or ‘83 and that was an eye opener

 

[Wolds Beef]

I do not think telling of all the antics on an open forum is a good idea if we want to save YFC! @Sid I think that title would help and if anyone from the top of YFC is looking at this they also could consider all the different schemes that Rishi has at the moment to save a chunk of money. YFC still has a place in Britain and has raised literally millions for charity. My Father was the youngest founder member of our club and I had many happy years being involved. I still go and see the County Rally when it is on.
WB

 

[Farmer Roy]

I do not think telling of all the antics on an open forum is a good idea if we want to save YFC! @Sid I think that title would help and if anyone from the top of YFC is looking at this they also could consider all the different schemes that Rishi has at the moment to save a chunk of money. YFC still has a place in Britain and has raised literally millions for charity. My Father was the youngest founder member of our club and I had many happy years being involved. I still go and see the County Rally when it is on.
WB

from what I’ve read here, it’s all about drinkin n rooting & playing up . . .( don’t get me wrong - I’m all for that )

the sort of behaviour that in other threads is frowned upon if it was townies running amok . . .
If you just want to get pîssed, you don’t need yfc for that . . .

 

[Wolds Beef]

@Farmer Roy There is a minority that use it to have riotous fun. Not all YFC members are the same. On the second IOM agm I and some friends from our club hired a car to see the rest of the island rather than be stuck in Douglas. At most of the AGM's I went to I went to the meeting itself which was often very interesting and had some very good speakers. I also went to the drama finals which were often a very good night out. One year a gang of us went to the sports finals to cheer on our girls in the Junior Hockey a few years after that my younger brother was involved in the Horncastle team that won the senior mixed Hockey. Now there were some fabulous celebrations when we won that back at base 'The Rodney Hotel' in Horncastle.
Now I am sounding old fashioned but YFC needs to be treated with respect and needs to be dug out of this hole by the serving officers and permanent staff even if it means losing some of the staff and they have to work that bit harder for there money.
WB

 

[Sid]

so where are these rural youth clubs ?

I have vaguely heard of “rural youth” but know nothing more than that ?

as I said earlier, it’s mainly sport / pubs / camp draft / rodeo type events here for socialising amongst young people ( & old )

Apart from agri / political farmer organisations ( like your NFU I suppose ? ) or farmer agronomy / info sharing groups, I don’t know of any organised rural focussed “social” groups that are the equivalent of yfc here

Looks like they are now all gone.
Was a SA thing.

Its farewell to Rural Youth | Plains Producer

It’s the end of an era for Rural Youth, which for half a century provided personal development, community development and social opportunities for tens of thousands of young country South Australians…

www.plainsproducer.com.au

 

[Sid]

I do not think telling of all the antics on an open forum is a good idea if we want to save YFC! @Sid I think that title would help and if anyone from the top of YFC is looking at this they also could consider all the different schemes that Rishi has at the moment to save a chunk of money. YFC still has a place in Britain and has raised literally millions for charity. My Father was the youngest founder member of our club and I had many happy years being involved. I still go and see the County Rally when it is on.
WB

Every club varies.

Some are very much into stock judging, focusing on mental health, personal development and debating .

Other clubs are about meeting up having a fee drinks and not alot of structure.

Some are members just to goto agm and Area weekends.

 

[case44]

Back in the 80s National YFC had around 50000 members,the figure now is much lower reflecting less people working on farms or involved in agriculture.

 

[JWL]

Don't get me wrong, yes I partied hard but by Christ I got one hell of a lot out of YFC. I spent a lot of my time involved from club level through County level and some area level. Looking back I wonder how I found the time when I was working the hours I did, when I got elected County Chairman I would do my best to go round all the Clubs in the County as much as possible. Most weeks in the quieter times at work I would be out 5 nights a week at Club meetings along with County meetings. The County membership rose from 500ish to over 850 with members from all backgrounds.
I have no regrets on any parts of my time with the movement but did feel that even back 20 to 25 years ago that there were a few that were holding change back. Just because we had allways done something in a particular way it was stifling the appeal of YFC to just farming offspring, any young people were put off by, in those days, the Barbour and Hunters brigade image of that daddy owns half the county.
Trying to get across the image of young people getting out in the rural areas and meeting up and getting something out of life is harder to put across as our society changes.

 

[ColinV6]

I never joined but looking back I wish I did. I know suprisingly few people in the farming community on a mate level which bugs me somewhat.

One of my good farming mates was right into it and knows absolutely bloody everybody!!

 

[kfpben]

Back in the 80s National YFC had around 50000 members,the figure now is much lower reflecting less people working on farms or involved in agriculture.

Pre AGM decision and Covid membership had started slightly rising.

 

[An Gof]

Don't get me wrong, yes I partied hard but by Christ I got one hell of a lot out of YFC. I spent a lot of my time involved from club level through County level and some area level. Looking back I wonder how I found the time when I was working the hours I did, when I got elected County Chairman I would do my best to go round all the Clubs in the County as much as possible. Most weeks in the quieter times at work I would be out 5 nights a week at Club meetings along with County meetings. The County membership rose from 500ish to over 850 with members from all backgrounds.
I have no regrets on any parts of my time with the movement but did feel that even back 20 to 25 years ago that there were a few that were holding change back. Just because we had allways done something in a particular way it was stifling the appeal of YFC to just farming offspring, any young people were put off by, in those days, the Barbour and Hunters brigade image of that daddy owns half the county.
Trying to get across the image of young people getting out in the rural areas and meeting up and getting something out of life is harder to put across as our society changes.

Didn’t you have a good County Organiser that cut his teeth and learned his craft in Cornwall from the great Mick Alsey. Or am I confusing it with another county. Malcolm Cox was his name if my memory is correct.

 

[Tarw Coch]

from what I’ve read here, it’s all about drinkin n rooting & playing up . . .( don’t get me wrong - I’m all for that )

the sort of behaviour that in other threads is frowned upon if it was townies running amok . . .
If you just want to get pîssed, you don’t need yfc for that . . .

I think that’s just what we look back on with fond memories now we’re too old/not capable of those sort of antics anymore.
In my day, young farmers were certainly no angels but the level of fighting at your average young farmers dance would be low indeed non existent at a lot of dances, far better than most towns on a Saturday nights. Whilst things like drugs and knife crime were a rising problem in the towns, they weren’t heard of in young farmers circles.
As a female friend said to me at the Minehead agm, it was an environment where she felt safe to wonder off on her own away from friends without fear of harm, not something she’d have felt comfortable doing in town.
As I say, young farmers were certainly no angels but underneath the vast majority had a level of decency and morals , and the wild times were only a part of what it was all about.

As has been said, many life skills gained such as running a meeting, debating, stock judging at the more serious end through to acting and sport, the list is almost endless.

 

[Wolds Beef]

I can not remember which Radio 1 DJ said it but there was a quote that he enjoyed doing YFC Gigs because there was never any trouble as they policed themselves. Our club had some local town lads who would try and get into our events. One evening they tried at a disco we were holding and the word went up stairs from our regular doorman. 5 burly young Farmers only got as far as the first landing on the stairs when the town lads turned tale and ran on a particular night.
WB

 

[hally]

Those ducks were as tough as old boots.

IOM in late 80s / early 90s was fairly wild too.

Sad to say I was aboard when the tables and chairs went over, seemed funny at the time bobbing about in the Irish Sea. We missed the ferry home as well so was there almost a week, great atmosphere.

 

[Whitepeak]

Every club varies.

Some are very much into stock judging, focusing on mental health, personal development and debating .

Other clubs are about meeting up having a fee drinks and not alot of structure.

Some are members just to goto agm and Area weekends.

Can vary year to year as well depending on who they have as chair, secretary etc. Often seen in my county clubs struggle to get teams together for competitions one yr and then be challenging for the rally trophy the next. All depends on the top table.

 

[Johnnyboxer]

I think that’s just what we look back on with fond memories now we’re too old/not capable of those sort of antics anymore.
In my day, young farmers were certainly no angels but the level of fighting at your average young farmers dance would be low indeed non existent at a lot of dances, far better than most towns on a Saturday nights. Whilst things like drugs and knife crime were a rising problem in the towns, they weren’t heard of in young farmers circles.
As a female friend said to me at the Minehead agm, it was an environment where she felt safe to wonder off on her own away from friends without fear of harm, not something she’d have felt comfortable doing in town.
As I say, young farmers were certainly no angels but underneath the vast majority had a level of decency and morals , and the wild times were only a part of what it was all about.

As has been said, many life skills gained such as running a meeting, debating, stock judging at the more serious end through to acting and sport, the list is almost endless.

That sums up my experience in a Devon YFC club and later in Yorkshire YFC