Southern District Young Farmers go for glory at annual field day
Southern District Young Farmers took part in more than 100 competitions last weekend at their Annual Field Day at Gutterby Farm, Whitbeck.
Around 400 Young Farmers took part in the competitions, which included a talent show, won by Crook YFC, and a fish filleting competition, won by Tom Hudson of Grayrigg YFC.
Other highlights included the arm wrestling competition, where Lowick YFC’s Peter Watson, Kate Edmondson and Claire Thexton won three of the classes and Anna Crow from Kent Estuary won the ladies under-21.
Sedbergh’s Rachel Bainbridge and Emma Rowlinson won the Junior and Intermediate Floral Art on the theme of the “The Year of Food & Farming”, with Sarah Long from Furness winning the Senior Floral Art.
The Tug-of-War was fiercely fought, with the Lowick boys finally pulling the Sedbergh boys over the line to win the competition.
The Sedbergh women restored their honour by beating the local club Broughton in the final.
The 21 Pre-Field Day craft classes were won overall by Pennine YFC Junior Nature Challenge was won by Mark Hetherington and Tim Wignall of Lyvennet YFC.
Andrew Long, Field Day Chairman, thanked the hundreds of judges and stewards who had helped make the day such a great success and announced the final results.
Grayrigg won the Cock of the North Trophy with 9063 points, Kent Estuary 2nd on 9024, Pennine 3rd on 8698 and Lowick 4th on 8481.
Trophies won were:
John Taylor Cup (Stock and Carcase Judging) Grayrigg;
Stockjudging Shield, Grayrigg;
Pauls Challenge Trophy (Dairy), Pennine;
N.F.U Cup (Industrial) Grayrigg; Haesler Trophy (Co-operatives) Kent Estuary;
Lakes Rally Trophy (Junior Competitions) Grayrigg;
Marsden Building Society Trophy (Fun Competitions) Kent Estuary;
Barclays Bank Shield (Skill & Craft Competitions) Grayrigg;
W. Proctor Shield (Pre-Field Day) Pennine;
Cheese Company Trophy (Club showing the greatest improvement) Furness;
Mrs Galbraith Trophy (County Display) Kent Estuary;
Eden Farm Supplies Trophy (Machinery Handling) Lowick;
Mr & Mrs Armitage Trophy (Sheep Shearing) Pennine;
Nat West Treasurers Competition, Grayrigg;
John Dickinson Trophy (Small Club) Crook;
Flower Arranging Trophy, Sedbergh;
Farming in the North Trophy (Girl’s Stockjudging) Kent Estuary;
Westmorland Agricultural Society Trophy (National Cookery) Grayrigg,
Lakeland Dialect Society Trophy, John Capstick of Pennine;
Danielle Dixon Memorial Trophy (Best Overall Flower Arrangement) Rachel Bainbridge of Sedbergh,
William Dargue Rosebowl (Best Overall Cookery) Kent Estuary;
Junior Craft, Kent Estuary;
George Whitfield Trophy (Under 16 Stockjudging) Pennine YFC