YFCU prepares to showcase annual Arts Festival Gala 2024

Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, took centre stage at Ballymena Academy on the 13th, 15th and 16th of February hosting a sellout week of drama, song, and comedy at the 2024 YFCU Arts Festival, where nine clubs showed their creative talent and vied for a place at the coveted Arts Festival Gala.

Opening night performances were compered by the quick-witted Gary Wilson who warmed up the crowd for performances from Lisnamurrican YFC, Straid YFC and Curragh and Kilrea YFC’s, billed to entertain a packed house.

Lisnamurrican YFC brought up the curtain with “The Highest Bidder” a tale of love, loyalty and community spirit. Second to the stage was Straid YFC, also keeping love and romance in their sights on the week of Valentine’s, gripping the audience with their performance of “The Travelling Soldier”; Curragh and Kilrea concluded the evening’s entertainment and kept the crowds laughing with a “A Deadly Good Party”.

Thursday evening’s proceedings were hosted by Brian Rankin who kept the audience entertained and had them belly-laughing at his anecdotes between performances. Finvoy YFC was first to take the stage on night two with “Rocketman”, an amusing tale of evil conspiracies where Gru and his minions worked tirelessly to steal the moon; followed by Garvagh YFC with “The Future is Golden” teaches an important lesson that the most important things in life are normally right in front of you; Kilraughts YFC offered the last performance of the night, full of energy and clowning around in “The Ejeits Circus”.

The final night welcomed the return of compere Gary Wilson who kept the show flowing with comical yarns throughout the evening. Moneymore YFC took the stage to opening with a musical extravaganza and airport shenanigans in the “Final Call”; next to the stage Holestone YFC brought a little competition to the evening in true YFCU style showing girls to be just as worthy farmers as boys in “Dairy Girls”.

Finally, Glarryford YFC had the royal honour of bringing down the curtain on the 2024 Arts Festival Gala with their performance of “Crown Defense” with a ‘cheeky’ attempt to steal the Jewels.

Expert judges John Trueman and Ita McVeigh assessed performances each night. In his closing remarks on the week of performances, Judge John Truman commended the clubs for their efforts, noting there had been “excellent singing, dancing & acting” which made their task of judging difficult; he further recognised the uniqueness of the YFCU in having the capacity to “bring young people of such an age range together to perform on stage and to do so with great confidence, is an impressive achievement for YFCU as an organisation.”

The spotlight then fell to Judge Ita McVeigh taking centre stage to reveal the five finalists. We are delighted to announce Curragh & Kilrea YFC, Finvoy YFC, Kilraughts YFC, Garvagh YFC, and Moneymore YFC will perform at the 2024 Arts Festival Gala at Millennium Forum, on 9th March 2024.

Congratulations to all clubs that competed. Each is to be applauded for their creativity, energy and dedication in bringing their show to the stage, entertaining and engaging audiences throughout the week.

The Arts Festival Gala is set to be a sellout evening of laughs, entertainment and contest. YFCU would like to welcome all to join them on 9th March at Millennium Forum, Londonderry. To book tickets please contact the Millennium Forum Box Office on 028 7126 4455 or book online https://www.millenniumforum.co.uk/ limited tickets remaining.

YFCU would like to thank the staff of Ballymena High School, the adjudicators John Trueman and Ita McVeigh and long-standing sponsor, NFU Mutual Charitable Trust for the continued sponsorship of YFCU Arts Festival and Gala.

A special thank you also to Chestnutt Animal Feeds Limited for kindly sponsoring the VIP Reception at the upcoming YFCU Arts Festival Gala 2024.