EDEN Valley Young Farmers Club’s very own Amy Swinbank has proved what her club members knew all along when she was voted NFYFC Committee Member of the Year 2020!

Amy who was Chair of Eden Valley YFC in 2019 – 2020 played an integral part in keeping the club united and running throughout the dark days of lockdown earlier this year.

In an interview with NFYFC Chair, Dewi Parry, Amy commented “I am absolutely overwhelmed and shocked to have won the award. There has been a lot going on and it’s not been an easy year and I could not have done it without the club members and other officials alongside me. It is a huge honour to win the award.”

During lockdown, Amy concentrated on ensuring that the club’s members were still involved and had opportunities. “Rural isolation is a huge issue and we didn’t want that to become worse during lockdown so we organised competitions, quizzes and virtual stockjudging that our members could become involved in”.

Amy also formed a link with local mental health group “A Safe Place”, working with the group to create a video on mental health for club members to access and staying in regular contact with members through phone calls and video chats.

Along with other club members she was instrumental in organising the Eden Valley YFC 24 Hour Spinathon which took place in Kirkby Thore Village Hall in February.

The club raised over £5k for three charities which they were extremely proud of.

On being asked what makes a good club chair, she commented that it was a mix of being approachable and welcoming. Encouraging new and junior members was really important as they were the future of the club and overall being supportive to all club members.

As if guiding her club through a pandemic wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Amy was this year’s editor of the Cumbria YFC Year Book alongside fellow Eden Valley member Imogen Johnston.

The editing of the Year Book coincided with the start of lockdown and with all physical club meetings cancelled it was decided early on that this year’s edition would be available online.

This would cut costs and make the Year Book available to a broader audience.

Necessity is the mother of all invention as they say, and the Year Book 2019 – 2020 has proved a tremendous success with members and supporters alike.