Angus Youth team raises over £6,500 for Air Ambulance NI and Rural Support

The money raised by team members Alfie Thompson, Conor Phair, Jenson Lindsay and Mackenzie Wilson will be divided between the Air Ambulance NI and Rural Support charities, with each receiving £3270.

The boys were given five Aberdeen Angus calves to rear as part of the Angus Youth challenge and also had to pick a topic for their project.

The ERGS group chose soil nutrition as their topic and named their project ‘Healthy Soil, Healthy Future’.

As part of the annual competition, the boys also had to host a fundraiser and choose a charity to benefit.

In total, they ran three fundraisers.

The first one encouraged staff and pupils to come to school as a farmer, wearing wellies or dealer boots and raised £600 for the worthy causes.

For their next fundraiser, the boys bought a young Aberdeen Angus calf and took it along to Clogher Valley Show where it was raffled off, raising £1,820. The calf was won by a delighted Noah who has shared some pictures with the team of it on his granda’s farm.

The final fundraiser was held on 9 September. This was an information evening on soil nutrition with a range of guest speakers including Andrew Wright (Farm Theory NI), a CAFRE soil expert and James Morrison, a past pupil and winner of the ABP Youth Challenge. James was also a winner of the Spirit of Angus Award as the best overall competitor at the World Angus Form Youth Competition.

They finished the night off with a BBQ, raffle and auction which was very successful and raised £4,120.

The team also produced their very own information leaflet for farmers – Understanding Your Soil Analysis – which was launched on the night.

The boys will present the money to the charities during school assembly next Tuesday (21 October). They will then head to the Logan Hall at Balmoral Park on Thursday 23 October for the winners’ announcement and awards ceremony for outgoing finalists.