Newtownards YFC focus on being safe on the farm

The opening meeting was held on 15th September at the club hall, Victoria Avenue and took the form of ice breaker games and a barbecue.

Members were glad to get back to some sort of normality with a face-to-face meeting as it had been almost a year and a half since the last.

New members were welcomed and a brief run down 
of the organisation and competitions was given to all members.

The club’s second meeting of the new season was ‘Farm Safety in Action’.

It is of paramount importance that all steps are taken to prevent injury on the farm and the club would like to thank Jay Warden for hosting the meeting.

Over the last 10 years, 69 people have died as a result of accidents on NI farms, according to the HSENI, and it is important we all do our bit to reduce these numbers.

Members were sent off to look around the farm to find eight “ready-made” danger zones before receiving a talk from guest speaker and YFCU farm safety mentor, Jessica Lee from Ballywalter YFC.

Jessica gave members a very informative talk on how to keep themselves and others safe while on the farm and the club would like to thank Jessica for coming along and giving up her time to attend the evening.

Members definitely learnt a lot.

The Co Down heat for public speaking also took place this week, where Andrew Patton saw himself win the 25-30 age group, prepared section and will now progress to the Northern Ireland finals.

It is great the club is off to a good start to the year and members are reminded of the club’s next meeting which is the 13th October, back at the club hall where the club will be focussing on looking after our mental health.

New members are still very welcome and more details can be found on the club’s Instagram and Facebook pages.