County Harvest Festival Preparation

Members of Launceston YFC travelled to Gwinear Church, Hayle last night to help with final preparations for Cornwall YFC's County Harvest Festival. The harvest festival takes place at Gwinear tonight at 8pm and it is followed by a disco at Camborne Rugby club. 

Harvest Festival

Launceston YFC's Harvest Festival took place this week at Liftondown Methodist Chapel. Rev Cathy Arscott led the service during which members brought along fresh produce and The Parable of the Sowers was read by Ed, Tom, Sadie and Claire. Jess also read a poem and Launceston Young Farmers show-stopping Sea Shandy group sang a harvest toast.

Following the service, vice- chairman Tim Kenyon provided entertainment. He hosted a game of Lanson YFC Mr and Mrs, with Ed and Claire proving to be the perfect partnership!

Medical Detection Dog

Last Thursday, Launceston YFC were given a talk by Tim Sutton-Woodhouse regarding medical detection dogs. He spoke of the remarkable sense of smell that dogs have, which enables them to identify changes to the medical conditions of humans. Medical detection dogs have been trained to work with people who suffer from conditions such as narcolepsy, pain seizures and diabetes; the dogs have been an extremely important lifeline to so many. The dogs recognise body changes and make humans aware of the change before their conditions worsen.

New research has led to the training of cancer detection dogs. The dogs are able to detect the small amounts of volatile substances that are released by cancer cells and it is hoped that in the future these dogs will be able to develop an early cancer screening service.

The talk was very interesting and eye opening for everyone. We would like to thank Tim for giving up his time to talk to the club.  

Presidents Night

No one knew how they were going to be spending their evening when they turned up at Treyboy Farm last Thursday for ‘Presidents Night,’ they were only told to dress according to the weather! After many guesses were made, Janet Ham announced the club would be Land Rover Trialing!

The club was split into two groups, with one half beginning with a tricky off road course, while the others started with trials to test control and precision. The off road course travelled across challenging terrain, through water and over banks, with the main aim of not hitting any wooden poles on route! In the other field, member were timed and scored on their accuracy of placing cups on the top of bamboo canes, after each pair swapped drivers, they then drove over a steep bank with the passenger carrying a bucket of water!

The adrenaline filled evening became very competitive and lots of fun was had by all. We would like to thank Janet and Lawson Ham, as well many friends and family, for their hard work which resulted in such a brilliant club evening- it was most definitely enjoyed by everyone!

Farm Walk

Last Thursday Launceston Young Farmers were treated to a farm walk at Treovis Cross Farm, Middlewood kindly led by owners David Taylor and Carol Horsington. The young farmers were taken on a walk around their farm on the edge of Notter Tor, where they saw prime pedigree Dexter Cattle which included short legged, long legged and short-long legged animals! The club were given a great insight into this small breed of cattle which is renowned for their flavoursome and succulent meat. They may be small, but members learnt a lot about the hardy animals which originated from South West of Ireland.

The higher level stewardship schemes provide a large input into David and Carol’s farming methods. Launceston Young Farmers learnt a lot about the significant environmental benefits which have been achieved at Treovis Cross Farm, this included looking at the hedge laying and fencing methods.

The club looked at willow which is grown at the farm and used by Carol to make magnificent produce such as baskets, hats, hurdles and furniture. David is also beginning to produce his own charcoal using wood from his own woodland area and he seems to have found a real niche in the market. Members learnt a lot about areas of farming which were relatively new to them and the inspiring evening has definitely encouraged members to look at diversifying themselves. We would like to thank David and Carol for the evening.