Club of the Month

Name of Club:

BrawdyHaycastle Young Farmers Club

Number of Members:

40

Where you meet:

Haycastle Community Centre

Describe your club in 3 words:

Welcoming, Fun and Inclusive

Favourite Club Night Activity:

Tippit Night! Who doesn’t love playing a bit of tippit? Our members love it, which is why we usually have a Tippit Night as one of our club activities. It also helps us pick a team to compete for the club at Indoor Sports. Another favourite club night we hold is Bake Off Night. We ask members to bake at home and bring their creations to club to be judged. We have different themes, and everything is judged by the club chairman. We try to organise a wide range of activities throughout the year, but these two always seem to be the ones our members really look forward to.

Fundraising accomplishments:

As a club, we’re always looking for ways to give back, and we’re proud of the fundraising and support we’ve managed over the year. At Christmas, we hold our Carols Round the Tree & Christmas Bingo event and donate the money raised to a local charity, as well as putting together a Christmas hamper which we gift to the fire service or PATCH. We also run the bar or BHar as we like to call it at the village show, which not only helps raise funds but lets us support a big community event. We’ve presented cheques to the DPJ Foundation and Car Y Mor, and we always try to support the local organisations that come to talk to us on club nights, whether that’s through donations or getting involved with community work.

Your work within the community:

We maintain a regular presence within the local community through various events and activities. We cover a large geographic area, so we try to support events in as many places as we can, not just the village we’re based in. Members join in with the community woodland clean-up, where they carry out tasks to help keep the local woodland clean and tidy. When Christmas comes around and we host our carol service in the local church, we also get involved with the maintenance—doing general cleaning and any odd jobs needed to make sure the church is ready to welcome everyone.

Favourite competition:

As a club we enjoy competing in the Entertainment Competition. It’s a great opportunity for all members to get up on stage together and have a great time doing it. We’ve been fortunate enough to represent Pembrokeshire YFC at Wales level in the pantomime, which was a surreal experience that many of us will not forget. If you were to ask our junior members, they’d tell you they really enjoy competing in the Junior Tug of War during Rally. We’ve only recently started competing in Junior ToW, but it’s already become a favourite amongst the juniors, and they can’t wait for it to come around each year.

How do you use the Welsh Language?

As a predominantly English-speaking club, we try to promote the Welsh language to our members as much as we can. We recently celebrated ‘Shwmae’ Day by asking members to wear something red to club night and by highlighting the importance of using Welsh where possible, even if it’s just simple greetings or phrases. It’s a small way of helping everyone feel more confident using the language. We’re also hoping to enter teams into the Welsh Public Speaking Day this year for the very first time as a club, which will be a great opportunity for members to challenge themselves and get more involved in Welsh culture.

Any other fun facts or slogans

At our club awards night we present an award called the Golden Welly. This is given for the funniest or silliest thing a member or members have done during the YFC year. Members are always keen to remember and point out every little funny moment that’s happened to their fellow members, just to make sure they get properly stitched up when it comes to nominations.