Windsor & Maidenhead YFC meets every Thursday evenings at Berkshire College of Agriculture from 7.30pm until around 9pm (though venue and timings depend on what activity is taking place that week). Take a look at their 2023/24 news (below) to get a flavour of what Windsor & Maidenhead YFC are about, or you can find out more by emailing the Club (click on the button below):
Windsor & Maidenhead YFC 2023/24 News
By Emily R (Junior Club Member)
This year has been a great one for Windsor and Maidenhead YFC. We are still going strong with around 50 members including associates.
To start the year, we had the county public speaking competition, where we entered 4 teams. We arrived at the competition, signed ourselves in and joined our other club members near the café area, where we also got to chat with members from other clubs. Eventually, the competition began. We enjoyed seeing what everybody else had prepared and read, and felt that we did fairly well, and we did with pride.
In February, we hosted our annual sports day at Shottesbrooke Grain Store. The day featured a range of sports competitions with Dynamos Cricket for the juniors, and Volleyball for both intermediates and seniors. For our volleyball team, it was a great success. We placed first, giving us the opportunity to advance to the South East Area competition, bringing great pride to the club. In the Dynamos Cricket we achieved a respectable fourth place, joint with Bradfield. The event was complimented by a variety of refreshments including hot and cold drinks, cakes and other delicious treats which were enjoyed by all.
This year was our club’s turn to organise the pre-show categories and we are very grateful for the support of many local people to help train us, and in providing the stock and facilities to make it all happen. A big thank you in this regard goes to Nick Manderfield and David Matthews, and also to Lacey’s farm and BCA who very kindly hosted the proceedings, and not to mention all of the judges and scorers.
Alongside this, we also had the cube exhibit, where teams had to create different projects relating to a country of choice and put them on display inside a 1m x 1m cube. Both of our teams did very well, placing 2nd and 3rd. Elsewhere, Matt Sell kindly hosted the clay pigeon shooting competition which was a great day for over 14 members to show off their talent. Then, to round off the day, older members had the opportunity to work in teams of 4 in the fencing competition, which looked extremely hard work!
We were very lucky to have good weather and had some great results to go forward to the country fayre. We had some brilliant results to head towards the South East Area competition. Our new chairman, Will Rowe, was the only member from our county to get to South East Area for auctioneering. All club members who were involved in auctioneering were supported by David Matthews and Simon Draper at Thame Auction Market.
The South East Area YFC competitions at the South of England Show was a great day, hosted by Surrey YFC. Will placed 2nd overall, and hopes to compete again next year.
One of the club juniors’ favourite meetings – swimming at Coral Reef Waterworld – took place in April. It was an evening of great enjoyment, and we had a great turnout. We also went on a beautiful bluebell walk on a lovely spring evening, followed by a delicious barbecue. In May, we started our float building for the County Fayre. We spent a few weeks on this, ensuring our design was what we wanted.
On the night before the County Rally, County hosted a live music night at Newbury Showground, the location of the competitions, where we were lucky enough to have a performance from the legendary Wurzels! The County Fayre was a great day, with a not-so-great early start. Members had to get their entries into the barn by 8:45, to be judged at 9:00. Later on, we started the practical classes. Our sack race team won the competition, and more classes were really fun, such as egg catching, blindfolded dress up, face painting, cookery and machinery driving. A few of our members also competed in what was meant to be a New Zealand Haka, but was changed to Cheerleading. Our team placed 4th, but we still enjoyed it thoroughly.
We also came last in the Olympic Torch obstacle course, but still had great fun. We entered a couple of teams into the tug of war, which we did rather well in. Our float was brilliant in our opinion, but the judges obviously thought otherwise as we were placed last. Overall, it was an amazing day for all, with additional food and entertainment, and we are very excited to host next year.
Between events, we had some lovely summer meetings, such as a visit to Temple Golf Club and Burnham Beeches. Our Hurley Riverside Picnic was a success, and the last meeting before the new membership year.
We came back in September to an icebreaker/ membership night, and followed it up with rounders at BCA. Later on, we prepared for our pre-ploughing match party. On the 21st September, Pheobe Matthews very kindly organised our Horse Show. The day had a brilliant turnout despite the weather, and we raised over £800 for charity. Then, on the 22nd was the REBAA Ploughing Match. Again, the weather wasn’t ideal, but it was a good day and a few of our members even competed! On the 12th October, we held a charity car was for the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice, for whom we raised around £850 from washing cars, trucks, tractors and horseboxes.
Towards Halloween, Copas Farms hosted a pumpkin carving evening. We of course had to turn it into a competition, and we had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place decided by James Copas. The week after, we had our bonfire night hosted by Shorts, with thanks to James Winfield. We had a very yummy barbecue courtesy of David Matthews, and amazing fireworks. We are very grateful to Simon Underwood for setting these up and doing a terrific job at lighting up the skies.
We are really looking forward to the year to come, and have definitely enjoyed the past year.
Windsor & Maidenhead YFC Photo Gallery
