SCHOOL EDITION 22 MARCH 2023 - Flipbook - Page 32
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RURALY
FARMWEEK
JANUARY 28 2021
Youths For
Tyrone members
M
Change
with YFCU
president
Zita
McNaugher
I
N the week where Donald Trump left the White
House and we got the news that the lockdown in
Northern Ireland has been extended to March, I’ve
spent a lot of time talking about mental health.
My week started off with a virtual tea break as
part of the Samaritan’s “Brew Monday” campaign.
The third Monday of January is traditionally known
as “Blue Monday” and apparently it’s when people feel
down. A 15 minute catch up virtually over a cup of tea
is a great way of improving your mood.
It’s really important at the moment to take time to
connect with people as it has a massive impact on
your mental health and I would encourage everyone
to make an effort to talk to someone as it can be a real
mood booster.
The mental health chat continued on Tuesday evening
with a mental health sub committee meeting and
although the plans for the mental health training have
been slightly delayed by Covid, we are still hopeful this
will happen over the summer. We are also planning a
mental health challenge in the upcoming months; I’ll
keep you posted on the details.
I received my copy of the Grassmen annual this week
which features an article on “YF Sees You”, the YFCU
mental health campaign. I also got a free Grassmen
10th anniversary hat which will be keeping me warm on
my winter walks. Thank you to Grassmen for including
“YF Sees You” in their popular magazine and the good
news is that you can still order your copy online.
My lockdown baking has resumed, and I took on the
Kilraughts YFC baking challenge. The north Antrim
club launched a recipe book just before Christmas as a
bit of a club fundraiser. I nally got my hands on a copy
and couldn’t wait to make the Malteser squares. They
may not have looked the best, and Paul Hollywood
would’ve probably said they weren’t very uniform, but
they were delicious!
If you want to get involved in the challenge, head
over to Kilraughts YFC Facebook page for recipes and
to order your own copy of the recipe book, which is
packed full of cake, traybake and dessert recipes.
I also attended a Zoom meeting for young farmers’
clubs to hear about the restart fund that is available
for additional costs that have been incurred due to
Covid-19. Club representatives also shared ideas for
virtual meetings, which I think was helpful as it can
sometimes be hard to come up with ideas to keep
everyone interested. For more information about the
Covid funding available to clubs, please contact Gillian
or Kevin at HQ.
Unfortunately, at last week’s Executive meeting we
had to make the difcult decision to cancel the YFCU
90th anniversary dinner. Honestly, I am devastated
that we had to cancel the event and I was hopeful that
the third time would be the charm for the reschedules
but with the ongoing extension of lockdown, it’s
probably for the best. All ticket purchasers should
have received an email from our HQ team in relation
to processing refunds and the team will be working on
processing these as quickly as possible.
I’d like to thank all of the sub committee, Gillian and
Michael, for the four years of planning and I’m already
looking forward to the 95th anniversary dinner.
Currently the nominations are open for the YFCU
Presidential Team and these are closing on February
12. I would encourage anyone who feels that they
are enthusiastic and have something to offer the
organisation that they put their name forward.
I stood for the position of Vice President six years ago
and, to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive at the start
but I thought I would like to give back to an association
that provided me with so many opportunities and it
has been a decision that I have never regretted. So, if
you are reading this and are interested, then get the
nominations form which is available from Susan at HQ
and get it lled in! If you do have any questions about
the process don’t be afraid to get in touch with me.
This week I have been attending our rst virtual Agri
Food Conference, “Adapt and Evolve” and I’ll give you
all a summary of it next week.
n Trent Brown, Seskinore YFC, over 18 winner of the recent YFCU Climate Change
competition.
EMBERS from
Tyrone Young
Farmer Clubs
have done themselves
proud at this year’s
YFCU Climate Change
competition. Members
were tasked with
demonstrating how
invested and committed
they are to addressing
climate change.
Under 18 winner
was Allister Crawford,
Seskinore YFC, over 18
winner was Trent Brown,
Seskinore YFC, and
highly commended was
Jessica Pollock, Derg
Valley YFC.
The judging panel
included Department
of Agriculture,
Environment and Rural
Affairs Minister Edwin
Poots, Chief Executive
of Northern Ireland
Environment Link Craig
McGuicken, Ulster
Farmers’ Union President
Victor Chestnutt and
YFCU president Zita
McNaugher.
Zita said: “The entries
we received are a great
representation of how
farmers are a vital part
of the climate change
solution.
“Our members clearly
demonstrated how
Rural youth loneliest in
Scotland during Covid
T
HE number of young
adults living in rural
Scotland during the
pandemic who say they
are lonely is substantially
higher than the majority of elder
members of their communities, a
survey suggests.
More than 3,000 people in rural
communities across Scotland
were polled in October and
November 2020 to investigate
the psychological, social and
nancial effects of the Covid-19
restrictions on people living in
rural areas.
When asked how lonely they
were feeling, 32 per cent of those
aged 18 to 29 years old said they
felt lonely most or all of the time.
This compares with three per
cent in the 70 to 79 age group,
and eight per cent of the total
surveyed.
The RuralCovidLife survey is
one of the rst to provide insight
into rural areas, where one in six
people in Scotland live and work,
organisers from the University of
Edinburgh said.
Internet connectivity is an
issue for many with 19 per cent
of those surveyed reporting
that their current broadband
connections were either poor or
very poor.
Some 87 per cent said that
high-speed broadband was very
important to be able to work
from home.
Reliable high-speed broadband
was also an important way of
keeping in contact with friends
and family for 67 per cent of
participants, which could be
important for counteracting
loneliness, experts said.
Public transport use was found
to have declined drastically
during the pandemic. Only 24
per cent of those surveyed used
it, down from 76 per cent prior to
the pandemic.
RuralCovidLife is part of
Generation Scotland, a longterm Scotland-wide research
project looking at the health and
wellbeing of volunteers and their
families. Generation Scotland
participants have answered
questions on their medical
history and lifestyle, and granted
researchers access to their
health records.
Professor David Porteous,
Principal Investigator for
Generation Scotland at the
University of Edinburgh, said:
“Despite rural communities
being spared the high infection
rates and number of deaths seen
in urban areas during the rst
wave, our results show that they
have been impacted in terms of
social isolation and connecting
with others, be it online or in
their own community.”
Jenny Campbell, aged 27,
who is part of the advisory
group for RuralCovidLife and
participated in the survey, is
a Regional Manager for the
Scottish Association of Young
Farmers Clubs (SAYFC). SAYFC
is a network of more than
3,000 farmers across Scotland
aged 14 to 30 years old. She is
also a sheep farmer based in
Stirlingshire.
Jenny said: “It’s very sad to see
reports of young people feeling
lonely in rural Scotland, with
horrid gures in this survey
showing feelings of loneliness
are high during the pandemic.
SAYFC has always sought to
counter social isolation and
loneliness in rural Scotland and
I am proud of how our members
have looked out for each other
and people across their rural
communities of all ages during
the pandemic.”
Generation Scotland was set
up 14 years ago and is funded by
Wellcome.
n Jenny
Campbell.