Way back when Drigg Young Farmers was formed the general idea was that children from farming families could get together, have fun and generally keep themselves out of mischief. But now, some 60 years or more on, that idea has grown into a thriving youth organisation which has regular meetings and is a vital part of the rural community.
Having members aged between 10 and 26, they are able to offer a wide variety of activities. Secretary Emma Steele said; "The young farmers’ movement has come a long way since the early days – many of our members aren’t even from farming families these days, it’s probably a 60/40 split. The rural communities now have more non-farmers living in them, and the change in the membership is reflected in that. These days you have a lot of people living in somewhere like Gosforth and working at Sellafield and quite of few of their children come along to our club.
"A lot of the time interest in the club spreads by word of mouth. You might have someone who is a regular mentioning the fact that they have had a great time when they are socialising or at school, and suddenly their friends want to come along too. We have members from all over the coast, with Egremont probably being the northernmost location and Bootle or Waberthwaite being the southernmost. We have a huge range of activities for people to take part in, and we link closely to the County and National Young Farmers networks."
That means that the Drigg club can compete against other local groups at a range of things, from after-dinner speaking to sports and crafts and even cooking.
"It really is an exhaustive list of activities that we take part in," Emma added. "We have recently been running a drama group and as part of that we have put together our own play, which will be performed in the community. As we have members who are adults the club is totally self-sufficient and run very much by the members for the members. There are one or two older people we can turn to if we need to, people who have been members themselves in the past, but we have our own committee with a secretary, treasurer and chairman, who are elected each year.
"We are self funded and raise money for our activities and general running costs by having various fund-raisers throughout the year. We actually make donations to other charities because we are able to raise more then we need. We’ve organised all kinds of social events outside of the meetings, including an ice skating trip."
While it is easy to see that youngsters will enjoy the delights of playing sports or taking part in some of the ‘fun’ activities offered by DYF, the life skills that many will pick up are things which may prove vitally important in later life, and that aren’t necessarily on the curriculum at most schools. Youngsters learn to cook and will doubtless gain confidence from taking part in public speaking competitions. It could also be argued that, for the younger ones, lessons from their peers are far easier to learn.
Credit must go to the members of Drigg Young Farmers and long may they keep up their good work. New members to the club are always welcome, and just need to turn up to one of the meetings, which take place every Tuesday evening in the Gosforth Methodist Hall at 7.30. For more details on the Young Farmers movement in Cumbria visit their website; www.cumbriayfc.co.uk.