How to contact us Newsletter Items – email hawickmanabroad@hotmail.com Chairman – Andy Mair Andymair36@hotmail.com Secretary - Alison Taylor 07967351622 Treasurer – Russell Gray 07909 985814 All YFA info can be found on www.ifye.co.uk and www.sayfc.org Jimmy Murrie 1948-2009 After having sent out my first newsletter, Jimmy gave me the fright of my life when he told me he always read the newsletters when they come in the post. It didn’t half draw my attention as to what I should and should not put in print when I knew people would read and take an interest in what I wrote. Jimmy always took a keen interest in the YFA as well as his other aviation interests. He will be sorely missed by us all and our thoughts are with his wife Marianne and his daughter, Fiona and son Hugh. Chairman‟s Craic Hi Folks, well, YFA has been fairly busy from your last newsletter. We had the great pleasure of taking the incoming international exchanges away for the day, where we went to Camera Obscura in Edinburgh, the clay mine at Bo‟Ness then Albert Bartletts in Airdrie, whilst the weather wasn‟t great, the banter on the chauffer driven minibus (chauffer being yours truly) and visits certainly made up for it, the day was then capped by a meal at the Fenwick hotel where we were joined by the Ayrshire hosts. Following the away day, was our dance at Craigie village hall, it was a great nite with it being well attended and gave the chance for the exchanges to meet up again and meet more of the locals, many thanks must go to all who helped at the bar, door and all those who supported the YFA once again. Allison has also been very busy and set up a Facebook page, this is aimed to hopefully build levels of communication within YFA and gives members and past exchanges the chance to keep in touch, please go on to Facebook and search for “YFA Scottish Region” and register as a friend. Looking forward and Allison and myself will be representing Scotland at the YFA Reunion in Newcastle in November, if anyone has anything they wish us to bring up, please don‟t hesitate to get in contact with us. Hopefully we will be having another fund raising event in January, this is still to be organised but if anyone has any suggestions or something in mind that you think we should be doing, please don‟t hesitate in contacting Allison or myself. Time to sign off, but hope your all well and hopefully see you sometime soon. Regards Andy Mair Chairman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Secretary’s Chat Hi there! Well we're about half way through the YFA year and its been a busy-ish one so far. In June we welcomed our international delegates and gave them a good day by providing them with a fun packed away day - you can read more in my away day report. Quickly following that we had our dance in Craigie Hall which was a successful night, however was very poorly attended by YFA members - other than committee members only 2 attended!! Luckily the local Young Farmers Clubs saved the day by turning out in their car loads to meet our delegates. I hope we can expect better support from our members at our next fund raising event in the New Year. After all if we don't have support YFA won't exist and the funding to future exchangees won't be possible - so please give that little bit back to the association, as we've all reaped the benefits when we have taken our exchange trips. On a more positive note, the reception at the Highland show was well attended by our anniversary delegates and it would good to catch up. This month the committee are having another meeting so if you have any issues, please email them to yfa-sec-scottishregion@hotmail.co.uk and we will raise these for you. We are following the meeting with a night out in Perth to help the committee get better acquainted so we can really bond as a team! This is something I hope will become a regular occurrence. The next big event is the re-union in Gosforth Park, Newcastle upon Tyne on the weekend of 23rd October 2009 - I hope that some of you will be attending and look forward to seeing you there! That's all for now! Hopefully see a few of you at the reunion!! Thanks Alison Taylor 07967 351 622 Yfa-sec-scottishregion@hotmail.co.uk Gilmeadowland Cottage Linlithgow EH49 6LN A wee request Could people go to the IFYE website and register to receive the IFYE update which will keep us all updated on the goings on of the other 3 nations in the UK YFA. It‟ll be just like having our own wee YFA networking site! The editor thinks:- or knows of anyone else that has then please drop me a line. Lastly, I can’t help but wonder why Scottish YFA supremo, Andy Mair has the number 36 in his e-mail address. If anyone knows or better still, would like to speculate what the 36 may represent, drop me a line. Any responses will be printed in the next newsletter. Enjoy the newsletter and re-union, Jim YFA Re-union 2010 'Gathering of the Clans' The hotel is now booked ' Hilton Coylunbridge' Friday 29th Oct 2010 for 3 nights and the MAX cost will be £199!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we got big plans for this obviously the success of the ceilidh dictates exactly how big the plans and extras are... we also offering a DD/SO saving plan so when weekend comes round....don’t costs you so much or you get cash back as spending money if saved enough we really want to put the reunion back on the calendar we are aiming to get 250 people attending web site up, and almost running www.yfa2010.com At present I’m sitting in a hotel room in Birmingham with the intention of heading over towards Harwich later today to catch the ferry to Denmark as part of my Nuffield Scholarship. My most northerly destination is Ostersund in YFA away day shenanigans Sweden where right now it’s -5 and snow forecast. Needless to say it’ll be a wee bit of a shock to me with the borders not seeing a huge amount of cold weather mainly due warm glow we receive from the eternal fires of hell otherwise known as Gala. I have 5 weeks away planned ranging as I said from from the hotel in Edinburgh, in our very funky fast travelling (going down hills only) bus being driven by our chairman, Andy. Everyone seemed full of fun and keen to see where we were taking them. To start off we took them into Edinburgh city centre where we headed to Camera Obscura on the Royal Mile to see the city from a strange and very different angle. After experimenting with many optical illusions we were ready to move on. We headed to Muiravonside Country park for a picnic lunch before heading to Birkhill Clay Mine in Bo'ness where Ross, a past miner took us down the steep steps (we certainly felt the burn on the way back up - oh yah!!!) in the torrential rain to the mouth of the pit, we were all glad to get in out of the rain. We took a walk through the caverns which extends to 3 miles of routes although we only walked a short part of it. We had many geological terms described to us with very good examples of fossilising tree roots in the roof of the mine and "a never done before" switching off of the lights in the pit so we could imagine the conditions the miners were working in. After a very interesting tour we then boarded back on the Andy bus and headed to Albert Bartlett's of Airdrie for a tour of the plant, seeing the root vegetable process from planting to packing and transportation was definitely food for thought! We all left a little bit more educated about farming, and headed to the Fenwick hotel for an evening meal which was well attended by 20 Ayrshire members who were keen to come to meet their delegates. After introducing a few delegates to Haggis and Whiskey we sent them on their way to their host clubs. A great day was had by all and we were all ready for a good sleep after a very hectic and far travelled day!! Ostersund in Sweden through Denmark then International Farm Youth Exchange Conference 2009 onto Germany which takes me as far south as Munich. Unfortunately as a result, I’ll not be able to make the re-union this year which is a big disappointment. Any social engagement I’ve been to in Newcastle has always exceeded expectations and I’m sure the re-union will be no different. As many of you may have guessed, my births and marriage reports is not up to the standard it should be. I blame it on not having Catriona’s strong womanly guidance on these issues to keep me up to speed. Apologies if you have been missed out but please if anyone has got engaged/given birth Well on the 17th June we welcomed 10 delegates to our country to show them some of the delights Scotland has to offer. The format of our away started by us collecting the delegates The 51st European IFYE Conference was held in the Isle of Man from 4th - 11th July. The conference is a once a year opportunity to meet up with fellow exchangees from all over Europe. Anyone who has been on an exchange trip - since they started over 50 years ago – can attend. It‟s a „European Rally‟ for all ages! The weekend commenced with a „Viking‟ fancy dress party, the Norwegians did have an advantage and perhaps had to look no further than their top drawer for the horn hats! The official IFYE conference opening ceremony was held in College Chapel. We were treated to the sound of a large male and female choir, whose songs included Westlife‟s „You Raise Me Up‟ and Queen‟s „Bohemian Rhapsody‟ – absolutely fantastic. The stunning setting of King Williams College provided a fabulous backdrop for the group and country photos – 16 were countries represented. As the IFYE President & chairman of the conference Martin Quayle is an Isle of Man MHK (Member of the House of Keys), he managed to „acquire‟ some 145 invites to the Tynwald Garden Party, hosted by the Lord Lieutenant Governor (British Crown representative on the Isle of Man) and held at the Nunnery just outside the island‟s capital, Douglas. So on Sunday afternoon everyone had the opportunity to dress up, relax, chat and nibble the delicacies on offer! In the evening the local young farmers entertained the group with a great selection of sketches, songs and music. Monday was „Tynwald Day‟ when the world‟s oldest continuous parliament held an open air ceremony allowing the islanders to hear the laws, seek justice, or speak their thoughts. It was a very warm and sunny day, a few IFYE‟s were noticed „nodding off! Lunch was a real treat, a marquee bedecked from a wedding the night before was the venue! In the afternoon the trips included a visit to the attractions at the town of Peel, a flower festival or a visit to Cronk-yVoddy Sports day, what a great laugh, terrier and lurcher racing and an IFYE tug- of war team (including Wee Tam, Willie Annett, Eric Crozier and Davy Hull from Northern Ireland, coached by Steedsy, may be some familiar names). On Tuesday everyone visited the Manx Museum, a 5* attraction that lived up to expectation. An exhibit which allow „riders‟ to „drive‟ a motorbike around the TT racecourse proved a big hit – anyone who secretly used a play station was quickly identified! After lunch a tour of the Parliament buildings or an afternoon free in Douglas were options. We all travelled back home with much hilarity, to Castletown, in a lovely old steam train. A surprise lay in wait for those opting for the vintage transport trip on Wednesday – two vintage buses – the group were transported to the sights including a visit to the world‟s largest working water wheel „the Laxey Wheel‟. The second group enjoyed the beautiful warm sunny day on foot – walking from Port St Mary, via the Cregneash Folk Museum, past the calf of Man. The views of the craggy coastline, nesting birds and blue seas and skies were stunning. The walk to far longer than planned, probably due to the fabulous photo opportunities & natural history information provided by the walking guides. The third group were given a tour around the world famous 37 ¾ mile long TT course by an ex-racer. Its 220 bends were taken somewhat slower in the 52-seater coach than the 17-18 minutes that the bikers take! Thursday was „host family day‟ - many members of the farming community picked up groups of 2 – 3 IFYE‟s and toured around the local sights, attractions and their area for the day. In the evening we rendezvoused back at King William‟s College for a barbecue and barn dance in a marquee in the grounds. The IFYE AGM was conducted on Friday morning, coincidentally this is the only meeting that is held during the week! The afternoon was spent doing last minute shopping for some, saying cheerio to the local bars for others! In the evening a stage of the UK rally car championships started in front of the college - it coincided with the drinks reception pre farewell gala dinner! So all car drivers whether they be scorers, starters, first aid crew or rally drivers were given equally rapturous applause by the champagne sipping (and gulping) group. The evening event was the culmination of a fabulous week: where we all had as much hilarity, laughs & fun all rolled into one, that could ever be wished for – roll on next year! The 2010 IFYE conference will be held at Ursprung, near Salzburg in Austria from the 31st July to the 7th August. Please take a look at the official IFYE website: www.ifye.org; the conference web site: www.ifye2010@gmx.at; or the UK ifye website www.ifye.co.uk or contact Sally Young 07876781800 youngsm@angus.gov.uk for more information – remember, you are all eligible to have a fabulous week too! The IFYE organisation has a „Development Fund‟ the purposes of the fund are to support new IFYE programmes; support free membership for IFYES‟s from former Eastern European countries & support special events and material produced by the Association. Any national IFYE alumni organisation (i.e. Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs) Fundraising ceilidh sat 6th feb 2010 Linlithgow Academy [EH49 6EH] 7.30pm for 8pm start, Till 1am band - the famous 'Last Tram Tae Auchenshuggle!!' Pig Spit Roast supper incl in ticket DJ filling for band breaks price raffle Tickets £12.50 go fill a car, and have a huge night will lots of YFA/YFC from all ages local B&B available contact Steedsy 01506 844 844 or steedsy@ward-steedsy.co.uk . DON’T FORGET TO PAY YOUR MEMBERSHIP Membership is requested as soon after the AGM as possible……. Sort Code 83-44-00 Account No. 00608534 Set your standing order NOW!!!!!
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