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The young Farmers in Crumlin are now 75 years old

Guessing the weight of a cow at a 70s sports night.

Guessing the weight of a cow at a 70s sports night.

IT WILL be grand reunion time when Crumlin Young Farmers Club celebrates its 75th anniversary at a slap-up dinner in the Ross Park Hotel, Kells on Saturday, February 2.

Veterans of the club which nearly folded three years ago and then was dramatically revived, will sit down to eat with 40 current members who have just seen Crumlin YFC through one of its best seasons, explains leader Alex Parks.

The club had the best float in the parade at the Crumlin Festival, its singers were commended at the YFC choir festival and eight members who sang Delihah at the Lylehill talent competition won the top prize .

And club members like Campbell Ward (fourth in Northern Ireland beef judging in the YFC 12-14 years group); Gregory Hamill (fifth in NI in sheep judging 12-14 years group); Eamon McGarry (fifth in beef judging NI, 18-21 years) and Nicola McCleery (runner up in under 16 art) distinguished themselves too.

The club's veteran members include international sheep shearer Robert Harkness, international sheep and cattle judge Fred Duncan, vice-president John Hunter of the Ardmore Herd, who is president of the international Ayrshire Breed Society and vice-president John Suffern another top Ayrshire man.

Present-day members Gregory Hamill and Campbell Ward with awards for beef cattle judging at the YFC championships 2007.

Present-day members Gregory Hamill and Campbell Ward with awards for beef cattle judging at the YFC championships 2007.

They all learned their trade as young men at Crumlin YFC which is today one of the most financially sound clubs in the province after the sale of 10-acres of a 20-acre Barley Field site it has owned in the Crumlin area for many years to Antrim Council for the laying down of playing fields.

Love

"A lot of members down the years met the love of their lives at Crumlin YFC events," says present-day member Christine Stewart who is helping to organise the anniversary bash.

"Some things never change," she stresses. "Still today members at Crumlin are having great times and are looking forward to this anniversary celebration."

It was founder members like James Duncan, Jack Manderson and Wilfred McFarland who got the club noticed in the beginning with two hit agricultural shows in 1945 and '46 in the village, the profits from which made the purchase of the Barley Field possible all that time ago.

"The club has a rich tradition in stock judging and the arts and drama, says Joan Ward. "There were successful arts festivals in the 70s organised by Rita Thompson and one act plays in which the cast members directed by Raymond Stewart won drama events with actors like Bertha Ilarkness, David Johnston, Sarah Graham Sean Murray and Robert Harkness in dramas like Tickle your Fancy and Love and Acid Drops which are still reminisced about today.

"In fact Crumlin club was so successful that the late playwright Sam Cree, author of Tickle Your Fancy was in the process of writing another play for our actors just before his death in 1982."

Anyone who wants to attend the anniversary dinner in the Ross Park on Saturday February 2 should contact either Alex Park on 07843611399 (anytime) or Steven Stewart on 07990813349 (after 5.30pm).

Ulster Star
25/01/2008