Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) has elected its new presidential team to lead the organisation from 2020 to 2021.
The Annual General Meeting took place over video call software Zoom on Thursday, July 9.
Zita McNaugher (Moneymore YFC) was re-elected as president with Peter Alexander (Glarryford Young Farmers Club) re-elected to the position of deputy president.
Lynne Montgomery (City of Derry YFC), Richard Beattie (Finvoy YFC) Hannah Kirkpatrick (Kilraughts Young Farmers) were elected as new vice-presidents with Stuart Mills (Moneymore YFC) also re-elected as vice-president.
YFCU president Zita McNaugher announced ‘R.O.A.R.I.N.G’ would be her theme for the year.
“These past 15 months have been about us changing and rising to any challenge and we will have to continue doing this, as we return to full strength after this pandemic,” she said.
I believe there are seven areas for us to focus on in order to become stronger than we have ever been before. That’s why I have chosen the theme of ‘Roaring 20s’.
“As most of you will be aware by now I am a massive fan of anagrams so R.O.A.R.I.N.G stands for the seven core values.”
R.O.A.R.I.N.G
Explaining what the anagram means, McNaugher said: “R is for Recruitment. We will need to be innovative with how we recruit this year.
“As members, we will need to work harder and use new ways to entice members to join us. We have a virtual world at our fingertips and we can always revert to a good old-fashioned leaflet drop to spread our message.
“O is for Opportunities. The YFCU offers us as members lots of different opportunities. Opportunities to travel (under normal circumstances), opportunities to learn and opportunities to develop.
Our travel opportunities may be slightly curtailed this year but we still offer plenty of opportunities for members.
“I would encourage everyone here this evening to focus on how to encourage members of your club and county to grasp every opportunity that we can offer.
“A is for Attendance. Our pledge makes it very clear our attendance should be punctual and regular. Our association needs members to turn up on time and turn up time and time again, not social hangers-on. What can you do to improve this?
“R is for Retention. Retention is as important as recruitment. We need to retain members in order to provide succession plans in clubs.
I is for Inclusion. If 2020 has taught us anything, it is: ‘In a World where we can be anything, be kind’. We need to show kindness and inclusivity to everyone.
“Think about your club, do you offer inclusive activities, do you cater for all your members needs as much as possible?
“N is for Neighbourly. We are a massive part of our local communities as we have demonstrated through all the support provided during Covid-19.
“Let’s continue to support our neighbours be it through buying local products, supporting local businesses or helping out in our local communities.
“G is for Giving. Young Famers are known for being very charitable and last year instead of donating money, clubs donated time to their communities.
Our association experienced a very tragic event back in March 2020 and because of this, I have picked AWARE as our charity for this season.
“AWARE is the depression charity for Northern Ireland which focuses on education and providing support to people on the illness of depression.”
McNaugher said she planned to hold a ‘virtual mood walk’ on September 6, 2020 to raise money for the charity.
“Please put this date in your diary in anticipation of further details,” she told members.
