CHAGFORD Young Farmers have launched a recruitment drive to encourage more members to join the club.

Chairman Will Ellis said they desperately needed more members – aged between 10 and 26 – to help swell the ranks on club nights.

Potential new members can find out more at the club’s stand at the Chagford Show on Thursday, August 15 or come along to its after-show party at the showground from 8pm until late. The club is also holding a new members’ evening and barbecue on Friday, September 6 at Moretonhampstead Sports and Community Centre, starting at 7pm.

Will, who farms at Chagford alongside working as a digger driver, said he had benefited hugely from being a Young Farmers – and there was no requirement for members to actually be farmers to join.

‘The social side of Young Farmers is fantastic. Pretty much all the people I know are in Young Farmers and my social life is rammed, I always have too much to do to be honest, so that’s a big part of it,’ he said.

‘I am the only person in our club who owns a farm in our club and some of the best young farmers are not Young Farmers. There really is no need to be a farmer to join the Young Farmers.

‘We are quite a small club at the moment and we have got a huge amount of stuff going on, we just need more people to take part in it.’

Social activities include go-karting, pub evenings and team sports outside on summer nights.

They meet every other week on Tuesday evenings in Moretonhampstead or Chagford. They also take part in competitions and trips organised by the young farmers at local, countywide and national level. Will recently won a national Young Farmers’ choir competition, singing as part of a choir of 19 other Young Farmers from the mid Devon (Haldon) area.

‘It was awesome,’ he said. ‘Before I joined Young Farmers I had never thought of public speaking or anything to do with my voice but I went along to it and realised I could do it. Young Farmers is a really good way of gaining those skills.

‘One of our Young Farmers is a singer so he helped, but basically we did it without a professional coach so I’m really proud of that.’

Young Farmers also help out in their community. They recently volunteered to do gardening for a man in Chagford who has a debilitating disease and is no longer able to maintain his garden.

‘We went along and cut all his grass and tidied things up and took it all away,’ said Will. ‘Our local pub in Chagford, The Globe, has bought him a mobility scooter and we are also going to build him a shed to put it in.’

He said another benefit of being a member of the Young Farmers wastrips abroad paid for through a scholarship fund offered at the county level. This year, groups have been to Slovenia and Denmark. And, closer to home, the Chagford Young Farmers will be demonstrating their skills in classes at the Chagford Show next Thursday.

‘Every member enters classes and we compete as a group, in everything from the first cut of hay to photography,’ said Will. ‘There’s 21 entries from our club.We will have a vintage tractor at the show, as well as a treasure hunt and we have also got six sheep and we will be shearing them at the show.’

Anyone interested in finding out more about Chagford YFC can ring chairman Will Ellis on 07807 810280, email [email protected] or visit the club’s Facebook or Instagram pages.