We set off on Friday,
from Wootton. 50 young farmers jammed in a coach for about 4 and a half hours
with no aircon and the heaters stuck on full, it didn’t sound like the best way
to spend our morning, but the drinks on the way made it that more than bearable
(our top tip – don’t take beer/cider, you’ll be sat there with your legs
crossed desperate for the loo after an hour!) When we finally arrived in
Blackpool we went straight to the hotel and met Darren, the hotel manager (who
was a total LAD, his speciality: flavoured Sambuca shots– be careful).
After
chucking our bags in the room which seemed like the short straw for us us our
room was at the very top of the hotel, Iona discovered she had left her purse
on the bus (she has admitted she is a complete fool and her punishment came
later). We then went to register and get our wristbands, which was easier said
than done, when you have someone with no ID/membership card, who wasn’t on
database and also had 2 other members who didn’t appear to be on the system!
After talking to various helpers, everyone was registered and ready to go! We
then headed out to a bar to get some drinks in before the evening do!
The first night was a
black tie ball; having only seen most of our county members in casual clothes,
dressing up was a nice change. We headed
down to the Winter Gardens, for what was set to be a good night. The first
thing we noticed was the amount of people, more than 6,000 people ready for a good
night! Aled Jones was DJing and did a great job, I ended up losing all of the
Bedfordshire lot fairly early on, but ended up making some new friends from
Warwickshire, who I had a great night partying with! After being reunited with
everyone we headed back at the hotel, we had a well needed sleep before being
woken up at 5am by what sounded like something dying outside our window. It
appears seagulls in Blackpool NEVER sleep...
As we awoke on the
second day to mine and Annabelle’s surprise everyone was up at 9am and already having
an early morning beverage, for us having only just turned 18 we haven’t
experienced university or an AGM before so we were already a step behind on how
much we could consume, even though the effects from the night before were
starting to hit us we did what true farmers do, we joined in; ‘the best way to
cure a hangover is to carry on’.
The second night was
fancy dress – Where’s Wally. It was pretty amazing to see loads of people
wearing exactly the same thing, and everyone seemed far more excited – who
doesn’t like a bit of fancy dress?!
This was fine, until we lost everyone
again, finding someone when everyone looks the same is far harder than finding
a needle in a haystack... After a while of mingling we spotted a group of
people with some fairly unorthodox dancing, this could only be one group of
people – North Beds! We then spent the rest of the night having a laugh with
all of them, before heading back to the hotel for another well needed sleep!
My most memorable
night would probably have been the last night: Sunday, Kangaroo Court night. It
started off with everyone just taking a shot of dirty pint from Henrys gun
which I think he enjoyed giving more than anyone else enjoyed taking. All the
AGM virgins (first timers) got called up including me and Annabelle, this got
me nervous as I had no idea what to expect, luckily we only had to take a tame
Sambuca shot (apparently half the shots were water and the other half were
Sambuca but I didn’t believe that for a second…)
I was thinking so far
so good and then I got called up and had to take my forfeit as a result of
leaving my purse on the bus, making me the biggest hassle of the weekend. It
started with taking a spoonful of dry instant coffee then having to eat a
pickled egg filled with chili in it (bear in mind I can’t even eat plain Nandos
as I find it too spicy..) It was awful; the dirty pint after seemed pleasant at
this point. All I have to say that I was impressed with myself, getting it down
and keeping it down.
After the kangaroo
court had finished punishing everyone we all went down to the Winter Palace for
the final party in our club shirts, where everyone was swapping them with
different clubs as they mingled. I believe one of the best things about Young
Farmers is no matter whom you are, you can talk to anyone as all of the people
are so friendly. This is quite lucky for Annabelle, who if you hadn’t noticed,
is pretty good at losing everyone... luckily for her she had made friends with
the Welsh club that were staying at our hotel! It had been a great end to our
first AGM; needless to say, all we did on the coach home was sleep!
We both completely
recommended AGM to any member! It’s an experience we will never forget. It’s one of the best ways to spend time with
other members of other clubs in county, and best of all you meet other young farmers from all over the
country. Just make sure you never leave your purse on the bus, unless you don’t
have a top friend like Annabelle who will pay for you for the whole weekend!
Iona Sapsed &
Annabelle Bates - AGM first timers.
