Windsor & Maidenhead YFC 2022/23 News
By Natasha Chapman, Secretary
This year at Windsor & Maidenhead has been great, we started off the year strong with 50 members, who have all made this a year to remember.
We started the year off with the County public speaking competition, sending 3 teams, who all worked hard, and came back with brilliant results. Moving on to February we had some very exciting meetings, we attended a private talk and live demonstration on butchery, it’s techniques and history. Kindly held by Fernygrove farm. Everyone who went learnt an incredible amount, and it was a great laugh! We also went on a club outing to the household Cavalry barracks in London, for a full guided tour (and a bit of sightseeing), it was a once in a lifetime view in on a place that not a lot of people have the privilege of seeing.
In March, we had the Southeast Area public speaking competition, where our teams who qualified in County went to represent our club. And once again did us proud! The first quarter of 2023 was off to a brilliant start!
As it starts to warm up, we had the County pre-show event, with our members partaking in horse, beef, dairy, pig and sheep stock judging, fence erecting and clay pigeon shooting. We had some brilliant results throughout the club, with many of our members qualifying for the national competitions!
May was a fun filled month, with the build-up to the county rally we spent many an evening working on our club float, which turned out beautifully! We are so proud of the hard work we put in, and how colourful and vibrant it was, featuring so many pieces of artwork and decorations made by our members.
The Friday night before the county rally, many of our members attended the music night, featuring Abba and Queen tribute bands, which were incredible, a night to be remembered! The day of the rally came around very quickly, and it was such a fun day, everyone loved every minute of it, with members participating in more competitions (like putting makeup on the Jack the club chairman) showing off our float to everyone in the main arena, and exploring the fayre. Our aim is to go even bigger next year!
Some of our senior members also travelled down to Devon a few weeks afterwards, to attend the Devon YFC’s summer ball, which was a brilliant evening, and we thank them for their hospitality. We also held our charity Tractor wash, which was a absolute success!
In June we had some more amazing meetings, which included demonstrations and talks and Maidenhead Fire Station, and an after hours tour of Legoland, to see how MiniLand works, and have a look at where they design and build the models, which was fascinating. The first half of 2023 was an absolute blast, and we were eager to see what more we could do this year!
July rolled round, along with more sun. We started the month off with a meeting held at White Waltham airfield, where we learnt about the history behind it, and were lucky enough to even have a close-up tour of the two Hurricane planes that are kept there, and even saw flying before our meeting started. We thank White Waltham airfield for their hospitality that evening, it was a truly special meeting.
Coming back in September after our August break, we held our Horse show at BCA, it was a roaring success, and we hope to do another in 2024! We also had the Newbury show, and our Ploughing match party, with an awesome band and lovely hog roast! Some of our members also went on the County residential, where they made new lifelong friends, and tried out all sorts of new activities!
Drawing in the year to a close in our last quarter, we started October with the Shefford YFC harvest festival, which was a lovely evening for all who attended. We also helped to organise the Berkshire County ball, where everyone looked amazing, and was not a night to be forgotten!
November was a relatively quiet month in comparison, where alongside our usual meetings, we had our fireworks and bonfire night, kindly hosted by the Burrows family. There was brilliant food, and an equally brilliant fireworks display. The last month of the year was spent learning Wreath making, and carol signing for one of our clubs’ charities, Thames Hospice.
As we look towards 2024, we look back on 2023, so many new experiences, and members, new friendships and possibilities. We had so many brilliant meetings, both away from our home venue BCA, and spent there. We wouldn’t be who we are without our members, who we hope to have had a great year. We are all very excited to see what 2024 holds for our club, and we can’t wait to dive straight in.
Windsor & Maidenhead YFC Photo Gallery
