New National Chair Jane “Keen to get stuck into the year ahead”

Jane Strawhorn of Crossroads YFC has been announced as the New National Chair of the Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs (SAYFC) after being officially appointed at the association’s annual AGM on the 22^nd of April.

Jane had this to say of her new position:

“I am delighted and honoured to have assumed the role of National Chair for SAYFC at the recent AGM in April. Working alongside my newly elected Vice Chair, Alistair Brunton, I am keen to get stuck into the year ahead and face any challenges head on. I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded and supported by the National and Regional committees and look forward to working with all of them to drive SAYFC forward over the next year.”

Jane replaces Lucy Mitchell of East Fife JAC who headed a year of growth for the Association. And Lucy is excited to see this growth continue in the year ahead.

“Over the past year we have helped raise the SAYFC membership, made a positive contribution to changes at Board level which will help the organisation in the future challenges it faces while securing Scottish Government funding to aid this process, continued the journey of the organisation being more inclusive for all young people in rural communities and we introduced a Young Farmers Five Nations Conference. New opportunities were also added to the programme and an SAYFC Stockjudging and membership app was created.

2022/3 was a year to remember and I take great pride in thanking my team for the part they played in making it a great year for SAYFC. Our new Chair will take on fresh challenges and I know that Jane and her team will take SAYFC to another level leaving it even stronger for their successors. SAYFC is developing in exciting ways, and I look forward to seeing where it goes in future years.”

Working beside Jane this year will be the newly Appointed National Vice Chair, Alistair (Ally) Brunton of East Fife JAC.

“I am delighted to be elected as National Vice Chair for the following year. I look forward to working alongside Jane, and the rest of our National Committees. We have a really enthusiastic group on these committees this year, and hopefully with that comes new ideas. We aim to ensure that our members have the best experience possible, and if we are successful then that should help attract new members.”

As Ally was referring to, the month April saw each of the Association’s 6 National Committees hold AGMs in order to elect office bearers for the year ahead. The appointments for 2023/24 are as follows:

Agri & Rural Affairs

National Chair- John McCulloch (Stewartry YFC)

National Vice Chair- Scott Dey (Inverurie JAC)

West Region Chair- Rebecca Duncan (Callander YFC), East Region Chair- Bruce Keillor (Forfar Jac), North Region Chair- Stephen Allan (Udny JAC)

Competitions & Events

Chair- Grant Barr (West Fife JAC)

Vice Chair- Jane Donald (Biggar YFC)

Communication & Marketing

Chair- Laura McCulloch (Stranraer & Rhins YFC)

Vice Chair- Wallace Currie (Lower Nithsdale YFC)

Development & Wellbeing

Chair- Skye Watson (Biggar YFC)

Vice Chair- Abby Forsyth (Stewartry YFC)

Finance

Chair- Aimee Margrove (Udny JAC)

Vice Chair- Lewis Carruthers (Annandale YFC)

International Travel

Chair- Linsey Campbell (West Renfrewshire YFC)

Vice Chair- Mhairi Dalgleish (Bankfoot JAC)

The Association also welcomed a new Honorary President in the form of Alex Allison, a formal Lanark YFC member, Lanarkshire District Chairman and of course – a past National SAYFC Chairman. With these appointments the new National Chair has a positive outlook for her year at the helm:

“Looking to the year ahead, I am confident of another successful year for SAYFC and am looking forward to being out and about, meeting members, celebrating their achievements, and providing them as much support as I can. SAYFC is truly a unique organisation with limitless opportunities, and I am eager show to members exactly what SAYFC can do for them.”