Holestone Young Farmers’ Club members end summer on a high

Throughout July and August the Club also did they utmost to support all the other Young Farmer clubs of County Antrim and attend their sports nights.

The first Tuesday and Wednesday in July saw Holestone members who got through in the County Antrim Beef, Sheep, Dairy and Silage heats head to the Northern Ireland Finals and the Club have congratulated everyone who took part throughout the entire competition but, in particularly, David Moore who was placed third in his respective age group in silage assessment and Laura Patterson who was placed fourth in sheep judging in her respective age group.

Saturday of the same week saw members head to the Templepatrick Road all day to set up for the big night of their year - the Holestone YFC annual BBQ and they have thanked everyone who attended and supported the BBQ which featured music by DJ NI.

July also saw Holestone enter two teams in the County Antrim annual tag rugby heats at Ballymoney Rugby Club and, while neither teams got through to the finals, a night of competitiveness and fun was had by everyone.

At the end of July, the annual Randox Health Antrim Show was held at Shane’s castle.

The Show meant an early start for some members who helped out at the entrance gates.

Throughout the day all clubs in County Antrim showed their competiveness against each other in a variety of games and competitions.

Holestone was placed second in the infamous slippery football event and Laura Patterson was crowned the County Princess on the day.

The first Saturday in August saw Holestone welcome 12 Young Farmers’ Club members from Ayr in Scotland.

The fun filled itinerary planned for the visitors started off with meeting their hosts on the Friday night before heading to the local pub for some ice breaker sessions.

Saturday morning saw an early start as the visitors were treated to a couple of land tours around club members’ farms. These were followed by a walk around the Holestone area to inform the exchangees of the heritage of Holestone Young Farmers Club.

Saturday afternoon saw visitors, hosts and Club members hop on a bus and head for a pub crawl to Portrush stopping at the Royal Court for dinner on the way.

The busy itinerary for Saturday continued with a trip by bus to the Glarryford Young Farmers’ Club’s annual barbecue where everyone danced off their last bit of energy.

After their late night, everyone set off to Carryduff to the inflatable attraction on water Let’s Go Hydro.

A spokesperson for the Club said: “Everyone had a great splash in the water especially the Scottish exchangees as they had never been to a water inflatable attraction before.

“The Club would like to say a big thank you to all the hosts over the weekend and to the Moore family and Cargill family

for taking everyone on a tour of their farms. Finally, thank you to Ayr Young Farmers for coming over for an exchange with Holestone Young Farmers’ Club. It wasn’t our final goodbyes at Larne Port as the Club hope to see everyone again on the return leg of the exchange.”

Despite just ending their summer season, Holestone Young Farmer’s Club have already got their winter programme underway. It began on September 10 with an ice breaker night.

The Club are always open to new members.

You don’t need to be involved in farming to be a Young Farmer - just someone who appreciates the countryside and enjoys rural life.

Anyone interested in joining or just finding out more on information Holestone Young Farmers, can contact Club Leader Steve Hamilton on 07858351186 or Secretary Aimee McKillen on 07842505802.

Or, alternatively, you can find them on Facebook, ‘Holestone Young Farmers’, Snapchat, ‘holestoneyfc’ or Instagram,

‘Holestone_YFC’.