Pontfaen YFC members shine at national competitions day

Pontfaen Young Farmers’ Club members are celebrating an outstanding weekend of success after representing Wales at the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs Competitions Day, held at the County Showground, Stafford, on Saturday, 4 July.

The club’s Show Choir achieved an excellent second place at the national finals, following previous success after winning the choir competition last November and the Wales final in March.

The team travelled to Stafford to compete against other finalists, with each choir given ten minutes to introduce their members and chosen pieces before performing.

Alice introduced the team before they performed their own-choice pieces, ‘Calon Lan’ and ‘The Rose’, along with their semi-directed piece, ‘Ordinary’ and ‘Fewer Dreams’ by Alice Warren.

The team included senior members Sian Healey and Mollie Hughes, alongside nine junior members under the age of 16: Connie, Lizzy, Alice, Darcey, Amelia, Ellen, Beth, Liliwen and Calon.

The judges praised the choir’s performance, describing the arrangement as an excellent choice and highlighting the beautiful solos, brilliant intonation and impressive clarity. They also commented on the team’s ability to move between Welsh and English with outstanding tuning and noted that the emotion shown by such a young team during ‘Calon Lan’ brought members of the audience to tears.

There was further success in the National Mace Debating competition for members under 28, where Sian Healey was part of the winning team. She completed alongside Samuel Powell, County Chair from Elwood YFC and Sennybridge YFC members Nia Havard, Libby Davies and Elin Havard.

Congratulations also go to Elin Havard, who was awarded Best Speaker in the debating competition.

The club’s Cube Exhibit team placing fourth with their display on the theme of “My Favourite Place.” Darren, Henry, Darcey, Chloe Williams and Sian Healey created a display depicting “The Garden”.

Pontfaen YFC is now preparing for the Royal Welsh Show, where members will be taking part in a busy programme of competitions including Let Me Entertain, Fashion, Scrapbook, Dancing, Men’s rugby, YFC tug of war and open junior tug of war.