I’m sure many of you are young farmers or have at one point in your life been a young farmer. There are some massive clubs and it’s easy to let the crowds blur into one; after all everyone is in the same shirt, gilet, boots and polo belt… But if you dive deeper into the masses you will pick out a few distinct personalities, I thought I would pick some of these out (just for fun) and compile them into a list of the 5 people you will meet at every young farmer’s club.
1. The club chairman
Every club needs one, so every club has one. I take my hat off to the club chairman because running the club is a full-time job – one that you aren’t paid for! They give up their time to plan weekly activities and keep it all going. You can spot them as the extra frazzled looking one around rally time. Often, they are one of the more senior members of the club, they have been in young farmers for years and has really seen it all.
2. The social butterfly
There is always one person in the club who is at every doo, dinner, and competition. They are the one who you can depend on for a lift to anything because they are definitely going! When there isn’t an event on they can often be found in the local pub organizing the next party and getting all the gossip on what’s going on and who’s been where.
3. The one that’s away at uni
There tends to be a lack of members aged 18-21 in my club, it’s because between these ages lots of people are off at uni. You will see these people again (eventually) but for now, the occasional message in the club group chat or appearance at a big event will be the most you see of them! Meanwhile, the club is severely lacking in intermediate members…
4. The keen junior (I will admit that this one is probably me…)
We all know that juniors are the easiest to convince to do the pantomime or group dance competition but there is always one in the club that will literally put their name down for anything. They seem to have more competitions to do at rally than hours in the day but they manage to do them all and come away with certificates! (This eagerness will most likely wear down after a few years)
5. The one that only turns up to doos
There are sometimes a few of these in the club. They hand in their membership forms at the start of the year and then you don’t see them until doo season. If you’re lucky you might convince them to do a competition at rally but it’s hit and miss to whether or not they will make it, or whether they will miraculously turn up for the after doo.
6. The one that’s always late
There is always that one member that somehow manages to turn up late enough to miss the meeting, but not so late that they miss the trip to the pub. Hmm… suspicious.
7. The ‚Mum‘ of the club
There’s always one older member that seems to be unofficially in charge of the juniors. She has to wait for their parents to pick them up before she can go ‚off duty‘ and join the party.
8. The one that has been in young farmers forever
Someone who has probably been a member since they were 10 and will be until they are 26. They have seen many rallies’s in their time, wins, losses and everything in between. If there are any discrepancies within the club they are the ones to ask because chances are they have seen it all before and know how to deal with it.