Adam Henson hosts YFC driving champions
Adam Henson opened the gates to his Gloucestershire farm last weekend to host the first in a series of road safety courses for National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC).
YFC members from clubs across the country travelled to Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park – made famous by BBC1’s Countryfile programme – to attend the course run by road safety charity Brake.
The 14 participants on the course received practical advice and resources and have now become the first set of Drive it Home “champions”. The Federation hopes to build a network of at least 48 of these champions in counties throughout England and Wales who can run road safety sessions for their own clubs and help spread road safety messages.
One of the members on the course was 25-year-old Sam Allen from Bicester Seniors, Oxfordshire.”Everyone in Young Farmers knows someone who has been involved in a collision or been hurt through driving,” he said. “I think by coming on the course it gives me the opportunity to educate other road users the same age as myself. We learnt that driving when tired can be as bad as drink driving. I can go back to my county now and give a presentation to each club. Even if it only gets through to two people it will be worth it.”
Adam Henson greeted the young farmers and explained why it was appropriate that his farm was the venue for the launch.
“I am pleased that we were the launch pad for the first Young Farmers’ national road safety course as a young member of our staff was tragically killed in a car crash just before Christmas on a local rural road,” he said.
“When I was a young farmer years ago at agricultural college… the principal came into our lecture theatre and told the 80 of us on the course that 5% of us would be dead by the end of our three years, partly due to car crashes. He was right – three people died on my course.”
Adam Henson
“When I was a young farmer years ago at agricultural college… the principal came into our lecture theatre and told the 80 of us on the course that 5% of us would be dead by the end of our three years, partly due to car crashes. He was right – three people died on my course.
“When you’re young, life is just so exciting that you can feel like you’re indestructible. It’s such a tragic loss of life when people are so young and have everything ahead of them. So it’s brilliant that the NFYFC is running these courses and I hope that after the session at my farm the first set of champions can now start spreading the word among their friends.”
The session was part of NFYFC’s Drive it Home campaign – a nationwide scheme to reduce the number of incidents involving young drivers. Future courses will be held at:
- Farmers Weekly‘s office, Sutton, Surrey – Friday 17 May
- NFU Mutual’s office, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire – Saturday 1 June
- Jimmy’s Farm, Ipswitch, Suffolk – Saturday 15 June
- Newark Showground, Newark, Nottinghamshre – Saturday 14 September
- Yorkshire Museum of Farming, Murton, York – Saturday 19 October
- Gwent YFC office, USK, Monmoutshire – Saturday 26 October
To book a free place on any of these course, email christina.evans@nfyfc.org.uk or call 02476 857 227.
Read about the YFC road safety campaign and find driving advice to help stay safe on rural roads.