How it all started?
As Lincolnshire Young Farmers Youth Coordinator I went along to my first ever EMA meeting feeling extremely nervous as I had no idea what to expect. This is where our very own Vicki Kirk proposed me as EMA area's new Youth Forum Representative - feeling a little bit confused as to what I had to do I agreed to the role knowing it could only help me in my YFC career. I then got invited to a youth forum meeting in Edinburgh on the weekend of the 2nd- 4th February 2018.
The weekend...
I went knowing that I would only know Laura Wrisdale so I was very worried about the weekend. However, by the end I did not want to leave. I made my way to Edinburgh by Train which was a 3 hour journey which seemed to take forever. When I arrived I was met by Jodie Green from NFYFC , with a whole group of people that had already arrived. There was people from all over the country, even the NFYFC Chairman.
Once we all arrived, we made our way to the Safe Stay Hostel where I shared a room with Laura and Lucy (Warwickshire YFC). We got ready and went for a lovely pub meal where we all got to know each other a bit more playing a game where we all had to write 2 facts down- one that people could easily guess and a harder one. This definitely gave us a better insight into peoples lives!!
On the Saturday morning we had a short walk over to the Escape Rooms where we was all split down into different teams and had to work together to figure out how to escape from each of the different rooms. This was extremely difficult and mine was the only team that didn't manage to escape in the hour that was given. Then, we had a 40 minute drive to the next set of activities including quad biking and clay shooting! This had to be one of the best things of the whole weekend. I haven't ever really done quad biking or clay shooting but it was great to have the opportunity to do it. There was some people that had done it before so they was able to help us.
On the Saturday evening, we had a 25 minute walk to the Pizza Express that we was eating at. This gave us chance to also have a little bit of a look round the city (which is absolutely beautiful). Over dinner we all had a really good chat getting to know each other even more. We found out what people had done at YFC, what roles that they have but also what they like to do outside of YFC!
On the Sunday morning we all got prepared for what was going to be a long day of meetings and travelling back home. We had meetings from about 10am-1pm so very intense but very informative talking about competitions, what we want to do as the youth forum, what different counties/areas do to keep the juniors involved. It was so helpful for me as Youth Forum coordinator to get advice off of others as what to do for our juniors! I had a great weekend meeting new people and enjoying some different experiences. I would encourage anybody to try and get involved with something like this as it has really helped me!
By George Burrell, North Holland YFC
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