Feb 2019

Coming to a village hall near you…… Every year on the second Sunday in May, thousands of people come along to enjoy an amazing family day out at Cowpie, our annual country show. It is full of attractions, livestock, rural crafts, farm food and competitions. It also shows the best of Young Farmers, with members taking part in stock-judging, tractor & digger challenges and main ring competitions. Some have been raising baby ducklings, chicks and orphan lambs which are judged at the show.

There is also a marquee packed with crafts and exhibits that the Young Farmers have made for the different competitions.

It is a fun filled day out but the main reason for Cowpie ….. is as a fundraising event for Young Farmers!

The show is run by our Cowpie Committee, who are all volunteers and they need some additional help. The first show took place in 1980 and so we are now celebrating 40 years of Cowpie (with some committee members being involved in every single show!) but they now need extra people to help run this event.

The Cowpie Roadshow gives parents and members a chance to understand what goes on at the show, how much work goes on behind the scenes and how the show funds Surrey Young Farmers. This year we have three events:

Reigate & at Hammer Village Hall - 1st March 7.30 – 9pm Felday Road, RH5 6QX

Brockham, Chobham & Merstham at Village Hall - 7th March 7.30 – 9pm Station Road, Betchworth RH3 7DF

Beare Green & at Capel Memorial Village Hall - 27th March 7 – 9pm Off Mortimer Road, Capel RH5 5LB

So come on, give up that evening of television, enjoy meeting some new friends and join in something new!

Parents, members, friends and family are all invited. Refreshments will be provided, so please confirm your place at [email protected]

This year our Young Farmers will be raising chicks and ducklings to show at Cowpie. If you have placed an order, details of the date for collection and how to make a brooder and care for your chicks and ducklings, will be emailed to all members taking part in the competition.

New for this year we have our Cowpie photo competition called Affection. The photo (for all classes) can be of domestic, farm or British wildlife animals or birds. The photo will need to be landscape and mounted on an A4 piece of card*

We are launching the competition early, as the first and second place photos from each class will be used to produce a Surrey Young Farmers calendar. For the winter months we hoping to include animals snuggled together on a frosty / snowy morning or swans entwined on a misty lake. They must be original photos and the winning entries will need to be in a jpg, tif or similar format that can be emailed to County office. Photos will be judged at the Cowpie Show. * Photos can be printed A5 up to A4, as long as the dimensions increase proportionally, to retain the oblong shape.

This year our Indoor Rally was held at the new location of Priory School in Dorking. Members were able to enjoy a morning of club activities and speaking competitions, followed by a rounders selection event in the afternoon. As always the standard of the exhibits was extremely high, making it very difficult for our judges! Many congratulations to Beare Green who won the Junior trophy, to Reigate who won the Public Speaking and Reading competitions, to Cranleigh who came first in the club pack and to who won the Senior and Advisory cups and who were the overall winners, taking home the Merrist Wood Cup. A huge thank you to the judges and stewards who helped on the day and to Beare Green for providing the brilliant catering.

Many congratulations to Ryan, Iris and Anuja from Reigate YFC, who represented Surrey in the South East Area reading competition at Hadlow College on Sunday 24th February. They all read beautifully but were up against some very strong competition. The judges remarked that the quality of the reading this year was extremely high and they would have loved to have sent all the teams onto the National final.

It is nearly time for our next Interclub evening. Come along on 4th April for an evening of Capture the Flag at Abinger Roughs. Demand for our activity weekend at Walton Firs and Thorpe Park Aqua Park has been amazing and the weekend is now fully booked. We will add any further applications received to a waiting list.

Thank you to everyone who has been attending the rounders practise mornings. Once we are able to confirm availability for the South East Area competition in June (exact date TBC), Patrick will then be announcing the team.

Led by Led by our Surrey Chairman Mel Caddle, Dorking and District Senior Young Farmers have set up a senior social committee. After a After a great joint event at Tullys Farm Fright Night, the club aim to raise funds, so they can arrange further joint activities with older members from our Junior Clubs.

So please come on out and support them with their quiz night at the Bull’s Head Dorking on Thursday 28th February.

Dorking will also be arranging a go-karting evening at Team Sport Crawley on Wednesday 13th March at 7.30pm. Any members 14+ are invited. If you are interested in attending, please let Sandra know at the office. Further details on cost and location will be sent out.

You can now find Surrey Young Farmers’ Clubs on: Facebook www.facebook.com/SurreyYoungFarmers Instagram www.instagram.com/surreyyoungfarmers or follow us on twitter at Surrey_YFC

DIARY DATES 2019

Senior Club Quiz - Bull’s Head Dorking Thu 28th Feb 19 Cowpie Roadshow - Abinger Hammer Fri 1st Mar 19 Cowpie Roadshow - Betchworth Thu 7th Mar 19 Senior Club Go-Karting - Crawley Wed 13th Mar 19 Cowpie Roadshow - Capel Wed 27th Mar 19 Inter-club evening - Abinger Roughs Thu 4th April 19 Cowpie Show Sun 12th May 19 South of Show Thu 6th to Sat 8th June 19 Summer Competitions including Rounders June 2019 (exact date TBC) Activity Weekend Fri 12th – Sun 14th July 19 For any information on competitions or to help at events, please contact Sandra at County Office on 01737 844528 or [email protected]