A long time ago, on Sunday 12th March 2017 Machars Young Farmers held their AGM, where the following were elected onto 2017-2018’s committee.
Chairman – Andrew Hunter-Blair, Vice Chairman – James Vance, Secretary – Sarah Walker and William McMillan, Assistant Secretary – Holly Sproat, Treasurer – Kerrin Forsyth, Assistant Treasurer Jim White, Assistant Root Show Secretary – Rose nash, Sports Convenor – Garry McKnight, Handicrafts Convenor – Emily Nash, School Reps – Heather Cousar, Ruairi Donald, Katie Scott, Club Leaders – Sarah Ferguson & Katie Landers, Committee members – Robert Templeton, Alan Oxley, John Cousar, David Adams, Fay Wallace.
On Friday 31st March, Machars Young Farmers held their first event of the year, their New Members and Social Night at Kirkinner Hall. It was great to see a good mix of both old and new faces, all who enjoyed a variety of games including ‘Human Hungry Hippos’, an Eating Competition and the infamous ‘Waft the Fish’ game. The evening highlighted how flexible Machars Young Farmers are while playing the ‘Cereal Box’ game!
On Sunday 9th April, Machars Young Farmers Club enjoyed a trip to Crossroads Young Farmers to compete in their Netball Competition. They competed against several teams and made it to the semi-finals – well done girls: Alice Hindmarsh, Gigha Johnstone, Katie Landers, Iona Corcoran, Jennifer Craig, front row: Anna Campbell, Fay Graham and Sarah Lawson.
To continue the sporting run, Machars held a couple of Sports Night, one on Wednesday 12th April at Bladnoch Park and one on Sunday 16th July at Maxwell Park, Port William. There was a great turn out of members to play a mix of hockey, football and rounders. It wouldn’t be a Young Farmer’s sports night without some unconventional footwear – wellies of course!
Machars Young Farmers Club took part in Dumfries and Galloway’s Young Farmers Club’s annual Rugby 7s competition at Wigtownshire’s Rugby Club on Sunday 23rd April. The sunny weather helped bring a great crowd to support the 6 boys’ teams and 3 girls’ teams competing for their chance to play at Nationals. Despite many of the boys feeling worse for wear, Machars had a very successful day winning all of their games. This took them through to Nationals, held on Sunday 7th May at Biggar where we came an impressive second. A great success for the club, well done boys!
Pictured from left to right, back row: Mark Craig, Ruari Donald, Robbie Smith, Thomas Macdonald, James Wallace, Craig Johnstone, William McCornick, David Adams. Front row: Robbie McCornick, Fraser Morton, Mark McCornick, Callum Gaw.
Friday 28th April, we held Social Night at Kirkinner Hall. Garry McKnight hosted a Quiz and Colin Ferguson gave a presentation and summary of his trip to New Zealand through Young Farmers.
On Thursday 4th May, Karyn McMillan and Bob Stead represented Machars in the D&G Country Cooks at Stranraer. They took first place with their roast chicken with sweet potato chips and ratatouille, followed by an apricot upside down cake for dessert. The next round was held at Ayr Show were Bob and Karyn continued their winning streak coming 1st again. They then went on to compete against Strichen Young Farmers at the Highland Shows, preparing roast pork chops with sweet potato chips, asparagus and apple sauce followed by an apple tart, unfortunately this was the end of their winning streak but very impressive non the less, well done! Thankfully this didn’t cause too many arguments with the couple getting engaged shortly after, congratulations!
Friday 5th May, Machars entered a girls hockey team and boys football team at Annandales Sport night at the Barony College. An interesting evening with the boys team managing to get a quick snap with the trophy. [john birse, Andrew hunter-blair, john cousar, William mcmillan, ryan mcneil, William service, bobby lander]
On Saturday 13th May, Machars entered several competitions at Ayr Show, in addition to the Country Cooks. For Arts and Crafts, Machars entered 2 junior teams, whose theme was ‘School Days’ and 1 senior team whose theme was ‘Abracadabra’. [Seniors: Fay Wallace, Robyn Wallace, Aileen McColm, Emily Nash, Adelle Ferrie, Laura Brown, Juniors: Jennifer Craig, Charlotte Nash, Kathryn Robinson, Becky Dalrymple, Claire Cannon, Mollie Miller-Smith, Iona Cocoran, Mairi Adams].
Machars also entered 2 junior stock judging teams and 1 senior stock judging team who came 3rd. Well done to all those who participated. [SJ senior: Bobby Landers, Simon McCornick, William McMillan, Jim White, SJ Junior: David Adams, Sarah Lawson, Ruairi Donald, Ross Campbell, Kerys Milven, Fiona Roddie, Claire Cannon, Mollie Miller-Smith]
We held a couple of rally practices at Bladnoch Park in May before Saturday 20th May, when Dumfries and Galloway Young Farmers held their annual rally which was hosted by Thornhill this year. Machars took a crowd up to compete in the various competitions ranging from stockjudging, eating competition, drinking competition, handicrafts, shearing, tyre change, post chapping, construction, safety, obstacle course, sack race, bale push, football. A great day was enjoyed by all.
On Saturday 27th May, Lesmahagow held their annual show, where Jim White competed in the sheep shearing competition for Machars.
This year Machars Young Farmers held their farm walk at New Bishopton’s purpose built young stock unit, by kind permission of the Forsyth family. On Thursday 1st June, farm manager, Andrew Taylor, showed us around the farm explaining the logistics of running a larger scale unit which feeds beef animals into an integrated beef business and rears replacement heifers for the Forsyths 1800 strong milk herd. There was an amazing turn out with over 100 people attending such an interesting and informative evening. Thank you also to Hazel Kirk and Sandra Morgan for putting on a lovely spread on the night.
Our talented Machars girls did well at Stranraer & Rhins Young Farmers Club’s Bake Off competition at their Coffee Morning on Saturday 3rd June, where the girls collected a couple of equal 2nds. Well done [Holly Sproat, Sarah Walker, Kerrin Forsyth, Kirstie McClymont]
Machars girls held a few fun netball nights, Wednesday 7th June, Thursday 13th July and Thursday 10th August, with great coaching from Dib Penrose and Debbie Johnstone. A great effort was always put in from all of the girls who came along, despite the weather.
Well done to Machars Young Farmers football lads for qualifying through to West Field Sports on Sunday 11th June at the D&G Field Sports at the Barony College! [john birse, bobby landers, jack mccaig, jac-david causar, alastair cannon, mark craig] Sunday 2nd July saw Machars boys travel to East Kilbride to play football at West Field Sports.
The Highland Show saw Machars competing in various events, in addition to Country Cooks. Jim White competed in the Shearing Competition, while David Adams, Ross Campbell and Bobby Landers competed in the Stockmanship Competition.
Friday 30th June, brought the highly anticipated return of Machars Young Farmers Swamp Football which was a great success! Thank you very much to all those who came along and took part. Also a huge thank you to the Vance family for hosting at Sloehabbert Farm. Well done to Mark McColm’s winning team.
On the 15th July, Machars Young Farmers spent their Saturday afternoon a little differently! Despite the freezing cold water we had a great laugh at Galloway Activity Centre’s ‘Wobbly Waterpark’ at Lochken. It proved a perfect outing for Alastair Cannon to show off his signature Tom Daley-Esque dives into the loch and for Rose Nash and Emma Robinson to prove they both have the balance of a newly born deer!
Friday 21st July held a great start to this year’s Stockjudgings! Our Annual Sheep Stockjudging event had over 100 people taking part 🐑. A huge thank you to our hosts the Campbell and Archibald families and their staff, also to our judge for the night Mr Robert McTurk and our event sponsors Shearwell Data Ltd, Craig Wilson Ltd and Tarff Valley. Many thanks to all who came along and congratulations to our winners:-
1st Overall and 1st Junior: Fraser McTaggart
2nd equal: Ruari McTaggart and Danny Kennedy
1st Lady: Rowan Hurst
1st Young Farmer: Claire Cannon
Another successful Charity Coffee Afternoon for Machars Young Farmers! The event which took place on Saturday 22nd July during Wigtown Riding of the Marches raised an impressive £465 for Wigtown Community Festival, Wigtown Food Festival and club funds!! This success would not have been possible without our helpers and talented bakers (and their mums!) who supplied lots of wonderful baked goodies and prizes and, of course, everyone who supported us on the day! Thank you all so much!! Each charity was presented with £100, which the club hopes both organisations will find helpful.
On Wednesday 26th July Stranraer Show brought Machars great success. A huge congratulations to all our handicraft teams that entered Stranraer Young Farmers Handicraft Competition. It was brilliant to see Machars A girls coming first and Machars A boys coming first and Machars B boys coming second. Well done to everyone: James Vance, Robert Templeton, Bobby Landers, Adam Vance, Garry McKnight, Stuart Wallace, Sam Robinson, Thomas McKinnel, Rose Nash, Charlotte Nash, Robyn Wallace, Aileen McColm, Emily Nash, Jennifer Craig, Fay Wallace, Kathryn Robinson.
On Wednesday 2nd August a slightly wet show didn’t dampen our spirits at night with over 600 people through the door at our dance!
Saturday 5th August, Saturday then saw Dumfries Show. Well done to our handicrafts girls for their amazing display at Dumfries show: Emily Nash, Rose Nash, Charlotte Nash and Robyn Wallace. A huge thank you must go to Emily Nash for all her hard work as Handicrafts Convenor this year.
Friday 1st September, Andrew Mckay and his family hosted our Annual Dairy Stockjuding. A great night was had by all with over 165 competing. Our judge for the evening was Mr Graham Morton who made a fine job. A big thank you to Carolines Catering, Select Bars and Jean McKay and Susie Mckay for keeping everyone well fed and watered throughout the event. Moreover, a huge thank you must go to all the sponsors for the evening: Genus plc, NMR, Quest, R G Contracting, Semex UK, Tarff Valley, Galloway and Macleod, Alistair Kirkwood, Priory Vet Centre and Watson Seeds.
The results for the evening:
1st overall – Gordon Agnew
2nd overall – Kerr Wright
3rd overall and 1st junior – Callum Donald
1st young farmer – Jim White
1st lady – Rose Nash
Novelty class – Kenny Adams.
On Saturday 2nd September we did our own version of Take Me Out at Newton Stewart Market. Jim White and Bobby Landers – aka Paddy McGuniess, did their best to help our 6 handsome men find love with one of our lovely girls. The boys all recorded a home video and either showed of their talent or had a video from a family member or friends. They then had a question lined up for the 2 final girls. We would like to thank all of the restaurants for donating vouchers for their dates and to all of our sponsors who helped ensure that all money raised on the night went to charity. This was a highly entertaining evening and an extremely successful fundraising for both Dumfries and Galloway Royal Highland Trust and Dumfries and Galloway’s Alzheimer’s Scotland. We raised over £4500, which was split equally between the two charities. RHET used this money to hold a Food and Farming Day at Lochinch Castle on Thursday and Friday 21st and 22nd September and Alzheimers Scotland are using this to set up a Farming/Country Life group for retired farmers in the Machars area.
On Saturday 16th September Robin and Liz Vance and Stuart Galloway and their family kindly hosted Machars Young Farmers Annual Beef Stockjuding at Broughton Skeog. A fantastic night with over 165 entries, competing to judge the Vance’s fine display of Aberdeen Angus’s. Our judge for the evening was Mr Kenny Adams who did a great job. A big thank you to Liz Vance and her team and Select Bars for keeping everyone well fed and watered throughout the event.
Moreover, a huge thank you must go to all the sponsors for the evening: Tarff Valley, Scot Beef, Royal Bank of Scotland and McWilliams Transport.
The results for the evening:
1st overall – Neil Galloway
2nd overall – Chris Stead
3rd overall and 1st junior – Isla McConnell
1st young farmer – Robert Templeton
1st lady – Helen Ryman
Novelty class – Juli Walker.
Machars Young Farmers had a very busy Sunday on the 24th September competing in both Dumfries and Galloways Beef and Dairy Dressing Competitions. Firstly, Machars Senior Dairy Dressing team, John Cousar and Sarah Walker and Machars Junior Dairy Dressing team, Cara Sloan and Frank Gwynne, competed at Newhouse Farm by kind permission of the Nicholson family. After a great effort, Machars Junior team impressed the judge by taking first place! Next, Machars Senior Beef Dressing team, Katie Landers and Jim White and Machars Junior Beef Dressing team, Frank Gwynne and Cara Sloan, competed at Mains of Colin by kind permission of the Wallace family. Both teams made a fantastic job and once again our Junior team won the judge over taking first place twice in one day! Congratulations! Thank you very much to Gavin Redpath, Drew Sloan and James Forsyth for coaching and to Richard Oxley and John Cousar for hosting all of our practices.
We then held an open Badminton night on Wednesday 27th September at the Merrick Leisure Centre.
Machars Young Farmer’s Club’s committee members Andrew Hunter-Blair (Chariman), James Vance (Vice Chairman) and Sarah Walker (Secretary) competed in Dumfries and Galloway’s Mr and Miss Competition on Saturday 30th September at Castle Douglas Town Hall. Unfortunately Machars were unplaced but had a great evening. Congratulations to the winners.
On Sunday 1st October, a few Machars members braved the weather to create this years Bale Art. This year the Bale Art Competition, which originated in Dumfries and Galloway had gone National. Bale Art was started to help promote young farmers clubs and this year the hope is to also raise funds for STV Appeal, a charity which helps children who endure tough times throughout Scotland.
Machars Young Farmers held their Annual Root Show in Wigtown County Buildings on Saturday 7th October. This marked the fifth show since it was resurrected in 2013. Building on it’s previous year’s success, entries were up with 395 exhibits presented on the day from 72 entrants. The show was very well supported, particularly in the Baking section, where the Industrial Section judge, Mrs Annette Torbet, was especially busy. The Roots, Grains and Forage sections had a healthy number of entries and were expertly judged by Mr Jan Vos who was accompanied by Mr Derek Robertson. Ms Deborah Gunby completed the judge line up, judging the Really Young Farmers section. The show was opened at 2pm by Mr Stewart MacFadzean who spoke about his time in Young Farmers and his past involvement with the Root Show. The club would like to thank all our sponsors, exhibitors, judges and supporters – without you all the show would not have been possible! A huge thank you must go to our Root Show Secretary Holly Sproat and Assistant Root Show Secretary Rose Nash for all of their organising, they both made a fabulous job!
Trophy Winner Picture: Back row (left to right) Holly Sproat, Tara Little, Andrew Hunter-Blair, John Sproat, James Vance, Jenni Cannon, Ginny Arnott. Front row (left to right) Stewart MacFadzean, Alison Maxwell, Annett Torbet, Debbie Gunby, Iona Cochrane.
Machars Young Farmers competed in Agri Skills on Sunday 8th October at Shire Agri Hire, Glenluce. Our team of James Vance, Thomas McKinnel and Alan Oxley did a grand job coming second, securing a place at National on 2nd December, which unfortunately was held as far away as Dingwall so the club decided not to take it any further.
On Sunday 22nd October, two Senior teams competed for Machars Young Farmers at Dumfries and Galloway’s Sheep Dressing Competition at Hayfield Farm, Thornhill with John Maxwell supplying the sheep.
A great effort from both teams (Andrew Hunter-Blair and Ross Campbell, & Jenni Cannon and William Mcmillan), with Jenni and William impressing the judge Mr David Padkin and taking first place! Congratulations and good luck competing at National on the 2nd December, again unfortunately all the way up at Dingwall.
Two teams competed for Machars at Dumfries and Galloway’s Junior Speech Making Competition on Sunday 5th November at Twynholm. A great success with Machars Pink placed second and Machars Blue placed third. Jacob Beaddie was placed best chairman and best opposer was given to Kathryn Robinson. The team also took part in the quiz and came second.
Machars blue:
Thomas Scott
Cara Sloan
Kathryn Robinson
Machars Pink:
Jocob Beaddie
Findlay Sloan
Craig Moffat
They then went onto West on Sunday 19th November, held at Prestwick. The teams switched colours and brought success again for Machars with the now Blue team placed 4th and the now Pink team placed 5th! Machars Blue then went on to compete at National on Saturday 9th December at Gogarburn. A huge congratulations to them for coming a very impressive first! A massive thank you must go to their fabulous coach Richard Oxley for all of his hard work and also to all of their parents for helping with travel. Congratulations all!
Machars Pink:
Jocob Beaddie
Findlay Sloan
Craig Moffat
Machars blue:
Thomas Scott
Cara Sloan
Kathryn Robinson
Machars Youngs Club enjoyed an amazing weekend from the 10th-12th November where we hosted our first exchange since 2012 and it’s fair to say it was a good one! A huge thank you to Straid Young Farmers Club for coming over from Northern Ireland for a visit, it was a pleasure to host such a fun, friendly group. It was a jam packed weekend and plenty of laughs were had with Dumfries and Galloway’s Charity Stock Judging at Newton Stewart Market on Friday night followed by a few beverages at The Black Horse Hotel. Thank you very much to Ian McGhie for showing us around Broadwigg on Saturday morning by kind permission of Kevin Forsyth and then to Alister Vance for sharing his enthusiasm for his recently installed robots at Bridgehouse. The Harbour Inn, Garlieston made a superb job of catering our lunch before we headed to Wigtownshire’s Rugby Club. On Sunday everyone managed to hold their hangovers together for a few ‘Happy Gilmores’ at The Green Valley’s driving range followed by footgolf and a much needed finger buffet. Thank you to everyone who hosted, chauffeured throughout the weekend and to those who came along and made the weekend as great as it was.
Dumfries and Galloway Young Farmers held a Ceilidh at Hetland Hall on Saturday 25th November.
Our Christmas Night Out was held on Saturday 9th December at the Blackhorse Hotel, Newton Stewart. It was a great night, filling the side room, lots of interesting Christmas Jumpers on display, great food and booze!
On Christmas Eve, it’s tradition to head to Whauphill Hall dressed in Christmas Jumpers once again and take part in a very competitive Quiz to held raise funds for local charities. This year £173 was raised for a local charity that hasn’t been decided yet.
This year we held our first Christmas Cracker Dance at Wigtown County Buildings on Thursday 28th December. It had an amazing turn out with over 230 in attendance. Thank you to Stephen Jolly for taking photos and Juli Walker and Elaine Cousar for cooking lots of burgers!
On Monday 15th January Machars Young Farmers Club’s Senior Speech Making Team competed at Dumfries and Galloway’s Senior Speech Making competition at Twynholm Village Hall. The teams were carefully judged by David Rae, Catherine McNay and Marion Goldie with questions compiled by Ross Mair. It was a great night for Machars with their team of Bobby Landers (Chairman), John Howatson (Proposer), William Service (Opposer) and Simon McCornick (Arbitrator) being placed 2nd and securing a place at West. Also congratulations to Bobby Landers for being awarded Best Chairman and to Simon McCornick for being awarded Best Arbitrator. Congratulations must also go to the Stranraer and Rhins Young Farmers team for winning.
The team headed to Coulter Hall, Biggar on 28th January to compete at West. The same team came 5th. Congratulations to Simon McCornick for being place Best Abritrator out with the winning team. The team would like to thank their coach Richard Oxley for all his coaching.
Despite the snowy weather a group of Machars Young Farmers headed to LA Bowl in Ayr for a couple of games of Ten Pin Bowling on Friday 19th January. A great night was had by all with lots of interesting techniques! First on the night was John Cousar with an impressive score of 320, followed by Graeme Penrose with 242 and Alan Oxley taking third with 234.
Machars Young Farmers Club enjoyed a curling taster night on Friday 9th February at The North West Castle, Stranraer. Some of our regular curlers were on hand to share their experience with those who had never curled before. The session concluded with a competitive mini game. A great night was had by all.
Last year Wigtownshire made it to West at the SEC Armadillo. This year they held a concert on Thursday and Friday 1st and 2nd February at the Ryan Centre. They put on two great performances and won the best concert for Dumfries and Galloway. They then entered Talent spot at Dumfries on Saturday 10th March and came second, securing them a place at West once again. This will be held on Saturday 31st March, again at the SEC Armadillo.
Some of our committee members went into the Douglas Ewart High School on Friday 23rd and Monday 26th of February to deliver a presentation to pupils about the many benefits Young Farmers Clubs can offer, trying to put across the wide variety of events and competitions that we offer and that despite our name we are not just for those in wellies.
Machars Young Farmers celebrated this successful year at their Annual Dinner Dance on Saturday 3rd March at Wigtown County Buildings. The night was well supported by past and present club members. The top table on the night consisted of Chairman Andrew Hunter-Blair, Vice Chairman James Vance, Secretary Sarah Walker and providing grace was William McMillan alongside the guest speakers Mr Ian Robinson and Mr Graham Bell accompanied by their wives’ Mrs June Robinson and Mrs Helen Bell. Both speakers made an excellent job giving very informative speeches on their thoughts on both the past, present and future of agriculture, peppered with some humorous stories.
As always, Carolines Catering provided another delicious meal, while Richard Oxley’s Select Bars kept everyone’s glasses full before DJ Davy Steele got everyone up to dance later. The hall was very well decorated by Rose Nash, Kerrin Forsyth and Sarah Walker with thanks to Anne Barclay, Claire Nash and Helen Oxley. Thank you to Emily Nash for capturing the evening.
Trophy winners for this year:
National Junior Speech Making Trophy – Thomas Scott, Kathryn Robinson and Cara Sloan
SAI Trophy (member gaining most points during the year) – James Vance
Cannon Rosebowl: female member gaining most points – Rose Nash
Craiglemine Cup: member under 21 gaining most points – David Adams
Cairnfield Perpetual Challenge Cup: most points at dairy stockjudging (and therefore won Wigtownshire Dairy Shield) – Jim White
Under 18 Stock Judging Shield: under 18 with most points at all stockjudgings – Charlotte Nash
Club Salver presented by Monkhouse Derby: member gaining most points in all 3 stockjudgings – Robert Templeton
Michael Dunlop Quiach: member most help to chairman and secretary – Kerrin Forsyth
Vice Chairman, James Vance rounded off the evening by thanking everyone for helping to celebrate our year. The club would like to thank everyone who has supported us throughout the year, it is greatly appreciated. Andrew Hunter-Blair and Sarah Walker would like to thank the committee for pulling together and making a grand job all year.
On Sunday 11th March we held our AGM, where the following were elected onto 2018-2019’s committee.
Chairman – Jim White
Vice Chairman – John Cousar
Secretary – Jenni Cannon
Assistant Secretary/PRO – Anna Ramsay
Treasurer – Rose Nash
Male Sports Convenor – Jac-David Causar
Female Sports Convenor – Jennifer Craig
Rally Convenor – James Vance
Handicrafts Convenors – Fay Wallace and Aileen McColm
Food Festival Committee Member – Holly Sproat
School Reps – Frank Gwynne and Kathryn Robinson
Club Leaders – Andrew Hunter-Blair and Sarah Walker
Committee:
David Adams
Alan Oxley
Thomas McKinnel
Mary McIntosh
William McMillan
