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 office@surreyyfc.co.uk