WINCANTON YFC
Meetings are held at: The RED CROSS CENTRE, Wincanton
Time & day: Tuesdays at 7.30 pm (fortnightly in the summer)
Chairman: Mark Neville
Elm Farm, Lattiford, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 8AG
Secretary: Hilary Hinks
Lower Hyland Farm, Nyland, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5SG
Ring 01278 691711 for details on joining Wincanton YFC
Website address visit the Wincanton YFC website on
Further information about Wincanton YFC
Wincanton YFC Yearbook Report 2007
It's hard to remember what happened last week, let alone a year ago but I will give it a go! The year started with Dan, who was due to be Chairman, disappearing to Scotland, leaving Simon to step in at the last minute. Despite this the year did not seem to go too badly!
The year started with the traditional Harvest Supper which was enjoyed by everyone, although hopefully the County Chairman copping off with the outgoing club Chairman was just a one off and not the start of a new tradition!
A week earlier the Wincanton Junior Public Speaking team of Olivia, Carlene and Freddie had represented the South-West at the National Competitions Day at Stoneleigh. Although they were unplaced they can be really proud of getting that far and how well they performed on the day. It was also a great achievement for Sid Perry, as after decades of coaching Public Speaking this was his first team to reach the National Final. No sooner had they recovered from this then it was time to start again for the County Competition, with Lorren taking over from Carlene, they won again at Brymore School, but had to settle for 3rd place in the South-West Area Competition.
Throughout the autumn and winter members kept themselves busy, out and about. There was a last minute search for a minibus to get to County Ball, and when we did find one there were still too many people wanting to squeeze on. Jimmer seemed to have esepcially enjoyed himself and the grass stains on his trousers revealed why!
Anyone travelling along the A303 in the small hours after the cartoon characters disco in Ilminster would have found Steve, Jimmer and Nev leaning over the crash barrier at Podimore roundabout throwing up together - must have been a good night!!
We had regular hockey practises on Sunday mornings which looked like it might have paid off as at one point our record in the group was played 2, won 2! However this went to pot when we went down to Langport and got totally thrashed!!
We did not fare much better at skittles either but this time it was Crewkerne giving us a good beating! Despite the loss Sarah and Hilary worked up such an appetite that they tried to break into McDonald's and then made Mike take a massive diversion to try and find a kebab shop that was still open!
The girls also had a shot at netball in the freezing cold, but despite a practice match against the boys, just missed out on the final.
This year also saw us celebrate our 70th anniversary which we did in style at the Dinner Dance at Gartells, organised by our advisory committee, which was attended by nearly 200 people of all eras. It was obviously a good evening judging by the amount of people that had to be kicked out long after the music had stopped and the lights had come on. Even Catherine had to stop her taxi home to "get some fresh air"!!
We held our Summer Ball at the Memorial Hall again which seemed to be enjoyed by everyone, although the police still have not found out who stole a music stand from the band's dressing room. The evening ended with dancers invading the stage led by a topless Glen Hodges, but sadly none of the ladies decided to follow this lead!
We all had a good weekend down in Weymouth for SWA, although Plan B was nearly needed when the hotel rang 2 weeks before saying they wanted to cancel our booking as they had just heard what young farmers were like! Luckily Simon managed to use all of his limited charm to persuade them that we would behave. We just about did, although Dan (now back from Scotland) brought some shame and embarassment on the club and young farmers generally with an appallingly light-weighted display of drinking. Within 2 hours of arriving he had to give up and go back to the hotel for a lie-down!
At the Rally we once again managed a pretty poor show of handicraft and competition entries. Dave managed to further embarass the club by driving his car into a river on Friday night while looking for the campsite. Fortunately there were plenty of cameras on hand as well as most of Crewkerne YFC who left the bar to pull him out!!
Our men's Tug-of-War team represented Wessex Group and did a pretty good job in the mud finishing second to Sedgemoor. However a few weeks later they pulled out of the SWA competition and so we started practising and stepped in. Unfortunately we found ourselves a bit outclassed on the day but at least the points we got for fourth place helped Somerset to the overall cup for the day.
Over the year we have enjoyed trips ice-skating, ringoing and bowling, had a tour of Wincanton Racecourse and visited Keystone Brewery where Garrett showed he is far too young to understand what drinking in moderation means.
We did our usual impression of strangled cats which we call "carol singing" although a packed bar at the Bull Inn seemed to enjoy it, and the following week we had our best attended carol service for years.
The club now has a revamped and (fairly) regularly updated website, which hopefully helped to get some of the many new members we managed to pick up along the way.
I'm sure there is plenty I've forgotten and probably some I've made up, but that seems enough! Thank you all very much to all the people who have helped out with the club in any way last year and good luck to everyone for this year!
WINCANTON YFC GALLERY!!