The events of the last few months have meant that Young Farmers activities have been significantly reduced. As a county we had to cancel or postpone the majority of our planned events and fundraisers for 2020. Since the beginning of this membership year in September we have been able to begin tentatively making plans and last weekend we were able to attend the South of England Agricultural Society’s Autumn Show and Game Fair.

This is the first event we have attended as a county since March. Covid-19 regulations meant that it was a slightly different show this year and we were restricted on what we could have on the stand. However, we jumped at the chance to get back out and start getting back to some level of familiarity. We could not have our popular pig racing or vegetable modelling this year but we decided to run our annual pumpkin carving competition and ask members of the public to vote for their favourites to decide the winning pumpkins. We had a really good number of entries with members from Chailey, Forest Row, Hailsham, Plumpton and Ringmer & Lewes all entering pumpkins.

The pumpkins were divided into two classes Juniors (15 entries) and Intermediate/Senior (18 entries) and the public were asked to vote for their favourite from each of the classes to decide the winner. There were just over 1,400 votes cast between the two classes across the two days of the show. Details of the winners and their pumpkins can be found below.

A big thank you to all the members who helped out over the weekend and followed the rules so diligently. Hopefully this will be the first of many successful events to come in the next year!