BRADFIELD & DISTRICT YFC

At Bradfield Young Farmers, we like to have fun and enjoy ourselves but also learn about the countryside, the people who live and work in it. We actively develop skills through hands-on experience and competitions.

Meetings are every Wednesday evening and based at Milehouse Farm, Theale. We make use of the surrounding area and facilities.

Take a look at our 2023/24 News (below) for an idea of the range of activities we get up to, but please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to know more.

  • Don’t worry about the age range of members (10 – 28 yrs) – we all get on!
  • All members have a say in what we do so all suggestions are welcome.
  • Members are supported by adult Club Leaders who along with Senior members are DBS checked.
  • Membership includes extensive YFC insurance for all activities and we have qualified first aiders present at our meetings.

If you’ve got any questions about Bradfield YFC, please ask one of our committee, they’ll be only too pleased to help you.

You can keep up to date with Bradfield YFC via Facebook.


Bradfield & District YFC 2023/24 News

By Charlie Plank, Club Leader

After another action packed year 22/23, how were we going to follow that??

Bradfield YFC were straight back on it with weekly meetings after a nice summer break and the club camp. What a start to the new membership year, with a visit to Chandlers FE. We were given tours of the shop and offices, workshops and, of course, we got to sit in some of the tractors, and much more. There was a surprise raffle where a few of our members got to pick out a prize from the shop, including tractor toys.

Then, before we knew it, Newbury show was back. Day 1 – Saturday- we were on the stand in the afternoon and had members getting stuck in with the countryside arena games including the hobbyhorse grand national and sack races, stewarding the parade of hounds and breed board carrying. A very busy day for all! However, there was no stopping there, as we were straight back on Sunday morning with many members competing in beef and butchers’ lamb stock judging. Some great outcomes from the club with Bradfield members coming first in both juniors and intermediates/seniors, a great way to end Newbury show.

Now we were back in to the winter months it was time to go back to Milehouse or meeting inside. So we started with a talk from Richard Edwards the forestry manager at Englefield Estate. He spoke to us about different types of trees, what his job entailed, and the different stages to cutting down trees and even ended the meeting getting our members involved as we grew from saplings and were thinned out until we were left with one last tree to demonstrate the idea of management. We all really enjoyed this meeting as it was very informative and interactive.Soon we had members going off to the Malvern show to compete in NFYFC finals, Sophie, Poppy and Harriet in cookery and Scarlett in floral art representing the Club and Berkshire, assorted dishes and courses prepared to the theme of a Day at the Races, cooked in just one hour on two gas rings.

In an amazing competition, to an exceedingly high standard the girls did us very proud. The following day was Scarlett turn in the floral art the standards were so high you though they were all full trained florists and this was only in the intermediate section!!! Scarlett came 13th scoring 90/100.

We did manage to get one more outside meeting before the dark evenings which we all went to Northcroft were we met up with Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue Volunteers who gave us a water safety talk, showed us what to do if someone got in to trouble in the water.

Carrying on with our jam-packed weekly programme has meant our meetings have been very well attended, from Can’t Cook to Beekeeping talks – we did it all!

Some of the highlights included a joint meeting with Shefford YFC at Rookery Farm, where our members got to pick their own pumpkins by Combine light at Berkshire Farm Girl’s pumpkin patch. We all wandered down to the patch, to spend time selecting our chosen pumpkins, prior to heading back to the barns carve them. Whilst everyone enjoyed a warming hot chocolate drink and toasted marshmallows. This was an ideal opportunity for our clubs to get together and enjoy an evening of fun and laughter.

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from Serena Watts, who kindly gave a very interesting and informative talk on Beekeeping. Members got to sample the honey collected by Serena from her bees, which as expected was delicious! Serena was so inspiring that Maisie now wants to become a beekeeper!

In the run up to Christmas, we had our usual festive meetings: a visit to Walters’ Turkeys, always a favourite with our members, enabling us to have a hands-on experience with the processing of the birds and gaining an understanding of how the turkey gets from field to plate, ready for us to enjoy as part of our traditional Christmas dinner.

Our floristry talents (or not!) were put into practice at our Wreath making evening. With the expert help of Sarah and supplies from Nick, we created some wonderful pieces, many of which were proudly hung on front doors at home. We are all looking forward to rounding off another successful and fun filled year for Bradfield at our Christmas Party.

After the Christmas and New Year Break, We were straight back on it as, this year, it was Bradfield YFC’s turn to run all the show classes.

With this in mind, we had already put together a small committee which consisted of Sarah Jones, Jenny Fox, Sonia and Hannah Walters. After many cups of tea and packets of biscuits, they came up with a variety of 100 classes, ranging from under 5’s to over club age! Their next task was to get details of the classes out to all the clubs and process the entries when they all start coming back in which is no small feat! And to find all the judges and stewards, which we asked Bradfield Advisory to help with, this is a great way to get all your past members back involved and to get all their experience and advice. Which also left the club to carry on with its weekly meetings!!!

In the meantime, many of our members were busy practicing for the County Public Speaking Competitions. These were held on Sunday the 14th of January, a fantastic day, where it was evident that our member’s hard work and dedication paid off. The results were outstanding: 1st in the Junior Public Reading, 1st in the Junior Public Speaking, 1st in Brainstrust and Scarlett came a very impressive 2nd in Junior Member of the Year, Plus Zoe Webber in Situations Vacant. Having done so well at County round meant going forward as Berkshire at SEA.

We enjoyed a variety of meetings since the New Year including cake stock judging and sausage making – a very popular but messy night. Members were able to flavour their own sausages and learnt how they are put in the cases; with most of our members having a go at winding the machine and everyone taking yummy sausages home. We were at Nuffield Health gym to practise volleyball and cricket for the county sports competitions. Our junior members practised bowling and batting and our seniors attempted to play volleyball! The following weekend, a lot of our members travelled to Maidenhead to participate in the Junior Cricket and senior Volleyball county competitions. It is safe to say our Public Speaking skills are a lot better than our sports skills!

More recent meetings included prep for the Country Fayre and Pre Show, explaining the show classes to our new members and how the day works as well as planning our 2024 float!

Another busy few months for Bradfield! We are always proud of our members, whatever they are are competing in, but at SEA Spring Comps, our speaking teams were amazing – their hard work and dedication really did pay off! Well done to you all!

March, we trialled a separate Junior/Senior meeting, which was a great success. The seniors headed to an 18+ mini golf night, and the juniors had lots of fun at a Messy Games night.

We kicked April off with our very successful bingo evening to raise money and it’s safe to say it was a great evening thoroughly enjoyed by all. There were many prizes up for grabs, a raffle and a ploughman’s dinner to complete the night.

With club meeting start to prepare members for Pre-show we were well in to the stock judging season visiting Angus Hodges, dairy farm, The Planks Farm for Beef and Sheep and finishing with a Visit to Simon Frenandez one of our club leaders for a talk on pigs. . It was definitely very beneficial meetings, especially for our new members who were giving it a go for the first time.

Pre-show came around quick, with Bradfield members heading up to maidenhead to compete as Windsor and Maidenhead hosted pre-show this year, bright and early on both Saturday and Sunday morning. It was a very busy for all, but glad to say we had members competing in every stock judging class and even teams in cookery and fencing! Outstanding results with Willian Plank scoring 100 out of 100 in Pig stock Judging!!!

Soon we were getting ready for the Berkshire County Fayre, after already talking to the Members earlier in the year and going through and put their name down for many different classes and there were definitely heated discussion about who got to do the machinery classes as that seems to be the favourite. It was great to see so many of our members putting themselves forward for so much and getting creative with their entries. What can I say, except the great team of Bradfield YFC shone through! As for many months, members working hard, painting, sewing, cutting and gluing to create the Day of the Dead themed float for this year’s competition.

As well as creating the float, Bradfield members spent their time in the run up to the show on their exhibition classes, which this year ranged from an assortment of baked goods all the way to metal work and photography classes. The day of the show started early with all members having to display their exhibition classed before the show opened. Once the show has started, Bradfield members spent the day competing in a wide range of class from blind fold fancy dress up to machinery driving and with everyone, also finding time to work together to put the final touches to the float.

The day ended with prize giving – it was so great to see many Bradfield members pick up some silverware which just shows months of preparation and hard work does pay off. Many of our members were trying new skills and competitions with lots of success, well done. It was lovely to have family and friends also supporting the club and it made for a great atmosphere, thank you. The brilliant results are proof of our great team and club, everyone should be very proud! #smallbutmighty#

After all our hard work for the Country Fayre, it was finally time to start to wind down. We had a farm visit to Frith Farm to see their herb and flower harvest that make their essential oils and even the secret ingredient for Coca-Cola, which we were only allowed to smell! Then on to our annual water fight evening at Bucklebury Ford, where no one left for home dry!!

We did still have one more county competition left – Country Spotters at Snelsmore Common – it was good to see so many members from all the clubs taking apart, even when England were playing in the Euros! We did manage to finish before the game started so we could all get home to watch the game!!!

Our very busy competitions season ended on a high, with Bradfield members representing Berkshire in the Junior Public Speaking (Scarlett, John-Paul and Marnie) and Brainstrust (Josh, Bradley, Zoe and Stephen) National Competition Finals at Stafford Showground.

Not to be outdone, William from Bradfield and Harry from Newbury both went up together to the Great Yorkshire Show to compete in the National Dairy Stockjudging Final. They all did their Clubs and County Proud.

The final meeting of the year was a BBQ at Amners Farm. With Chris’ help, Simon cooked his homemade burgers and sausages for Bradfield YFC’s members, officers, volunteers, supporters and parents. The whole Club had fun and celebrated the successes and achievements of the year. What a way to end a great, jam-packed year. We are very proud of your all and what you have achieved. #smallbutmighty.

Finally, we would like to say a massive thank all our members, parents, VPs and Advisory for all the help and support they have given throughout this year. What a great TEAM.

Bradfield YFC Photo Gallery