THE Jersey Young Farmers Club is 80 years old this year. Perhaps it would be better to say, ’80 years young’ – the club members are having a reunion party to celebrate the anniversary.
Save the date: 4 July at the RJA&HS. Tickets for the reunion will be on sale on sale by the end of April,
Tickets selling fast for the 80th Anniversary dinner of the Jersey Young Farmers’ Club
Tickets are now on sale and selling fast for the Jersey Young Farmers’ Club’s highly anticipated 80th Anniversary Reunion, taking place on Saturday 4th July 2026 at the Royal Jersey Showground, Trinity.
The landmark event will bring together past and present members, friends and people from the farming industry to mark eight decades since the formation of the Jersey Young Farmers’ Club and its contribution to Jersey’s agricultural, rural and social community.
Founded in 1946, the Club has played an important role in developing generations of young people through farming, competition, education, community involvement and lifelong friendships. Whilst the club is currently dormant, the reunion promises to be a memorable occasion, offering attendees the opportunity to reconnect with former members and friends, share stories and celebrate the Club’s rich history.
The event at the Royal Jersey Showground will begin at 5.30pm on 4th July and tickets are priced at £60 per person and must be purchased before 20th June. The evening consists of a delicious 3 course meal, live music, DJ and dancing.
While tables will be arranged in groups of ten, attendees do not need to book a full table. Individual tickets can be purchased for any number of guests, and organisers will endeavour to seat guests alongside fellow members and contemporaries from their own generation.
One of the organisers, Jane Rueb said:
“We are looking forward to welcoming former members and friends from every generation, to join us in marking this special anniversary. While Young Farmers has always been at the heart of Jersey’s rural community, this celebration is for everyone involved in the rural sector, and we hope to see familiar faces from across the industry come together to celebrate. Whether you’re booking a full table, a couple of friends or just yourself, we’ll make sure you’re seated with people from your era of Young Farmers so everyone can enjoy a fantastic evening together.”
To book tickets, please:
Email: JYFC80@hotmail.com Telephone: 07700 399416
Tickets must be purchased before 20th June. Early booking is encouraged to avoid disappointment.
For more information – please contact Louise Agnès on 07797767772Once, Jersey Young Farmers was a pivotal organisation at the heart of rural Jersey, with hundreds of members.
The late Anne Perchard, who died in 2013 after a long and successful career as a dairy farmer and who would become the president of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau, was at the inaugural meeting in 1946. It was held at the Town Hall, and she remembered the Assembly Room on the first floor so full, that not only was it standing room only in the room, but there was a queue all the way downstairs as well.
That meeting had been called by the late Senator John Le Marquand, who weas president of Education. He set up the club to promote the practice of modern agriculture, and he had the character and the drive to put such a club together. With Liberation having taken place just the previous year, the new club was an ideal outlet for youthful energy that had been stifled during the Occupation years.
The past is another Island.
Now, the Jersey Young Farmers (JYF) Club is dormant. The club house itself, which the Young Farmers of the time lent a hand in building (which may be why there is no insulation) stands in the Rue de Bechet in Trinity, and is occasionally used by other small groups. But mostly it stands dark and empty, a shell haunted by memories of the past; haunted by the memory of Christmas concerts, in which audience places were sold out for performances that poked good-natured fun at politicians and their policies; a clubhouse haunted by sometimes feisty committee meetings; haunted by competitions and social events of all sorts that made the club like an extended family, and a family home for its members.
All that is now gone; only the memories remain of former, different times.
But two former Young Farmers are keen to blow some life into the dying embers of the fire. Louise Agnès and Jane Rueb both work in what is still the heart of rural Jersey; Louise at the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and Jane at the Jersey Farmers Union (which is just across the landing from Louise’s office).
They explained how the idea for the reunion had originated: last September they had attended the funeral of Barry Rondel at Trinity Church. The Rondel family had owned one of the top Island herds. The church was packed out — even the Parish Hall was packed out — with Barry’s friends and neighbours from the farming community.
Louise said: ‘Jane and I happened to see each other and we were walking back down the road together. So many people at the funeral had said: “Isn’t it lovely seeing everyone?” but we both agreed that it was sad that this had to be at a funeral and not at any happier occasion.
‘I said: “You know what? It’s the 80th anniversary of the Young Farmers in 2026. We need to do something, something nice and happy, so that everybody can have a good get together.
‘By the time we had got back to the RJA, we had almost planned everything; I checked the diary, and found some suitable dates, and we decided to go for it.’
Jane added: ‘We had both been Young Farmers; we both have lots of connections in the farming sector. Also, we like getting our sleeves rolled up and getting on with things. The 80th anniversary just seemed like a good opportunity to have a reunion and get everyone together again.’
The evening is aimed not only at people who have been Young Farmers, but also past and present members of the agricultural and rural sector.
There will be a three-course meal, the eight-piece band ‘Little Black Dress’, and then a DJ, and a bucking bronco… ‘Just an opportunity for catching up, really. There will be a handful of speeches, but we will keep those very short and sweet. People will just want to mingle and chat, especially if they haven’t seen each other for ages.
‘It’s very rarely that as a community we do have a get-together. I guess the last main one was in July 2019, which was the 100th anniversary of the Jersey Farmers Union. That was an amazing evening, and we thought that the JYF anniversary would be a really good opportunity to get the whole of the rural community together again.
‘Sometimes, we are a bit under pressure, for all sorts of reasons. Farming can be quite lonely, so having a nice social occasion, where people can have a chat … those are very few and far between.’
Both Louise and Jane got on to Facebook or phoned friends to invite them to a planning meeting at the Royal St Martin pub.
Louise said: ‘Afterwards, I said to Jane “I feel as if I am 20 again, and still a Young Farmer, planning a club activity.’ ’
In the 1980s, the JYF still had over 100 members. Jane’s time in the JYF and Louise’s time didn’t quite cross over; but their experiences were very similar, and they reminisced about the many ways in which membership had helped shape them for future life. Perhaps most significantly they both found their future married partners though their membership: Erik Rueb and Laurence Agnès… and that experience was by no means uncommon among members.
Jane said: ‘My Dad (Michael Vautier) was a YF member in the 1950s and early 1960s; we grew up with lots of stories about the YF and what fun they had. When my brother, John, and I became YFs, we were the friends of the children of the parents whom Dad had known in his own YF days. We went to each other’s houses and it really was a community. Knowing everybody across the industry is fantastic; it’s a really good feeling of inclusion within the Island, which I think is really important – especially these days.’
Looking back at her own time as a YF, Louise said: ‘it taught you to step up to your responsibilities. You could join the committee and, before you knew it, you had become an assistant secretary, or a treasurer. You learnt how a committee runs, and how to take minutes, and it was my first insight into accounting and how to keep books. The older ones would mentor the younger ones.
Jane recollected a story told by Ken Syvret, once a YF and who in later years would become a lawyer and a St Ouen Deputy and who now runs the Guide Dogs Jersey book sales: ‘He had joined the YFs in the late 1950s, aged 15 or 16. He couldn’t drive, but someone picked him up to take him to his first committee meeting. There was a big bust-up at the meeting, and lots of fierce arguments across the table. But the minute it ended, everyone was friends again. Afterwards, he was told by one of the older members “That’s how it is. You leave the arguments behind the Committee Room.” It’s a life lesson.’
Jane and Louise recollected the YF Battle of Flowers floats; the charity fundraising consisting of members being sponsored to pull a tractor from Les Quennevais to Gorey (lightest person sitting in the seat, steering), black butter evenings, the many competitions that provided anchor points throughout the year, such as public speaking, courgette packing, standing potatoes, cauliflower or daffodil packing, breezing, cooking competitions… ‘We look back at it all now, and just laugh as we remember,’ Louise said.
‘There was always something going on, Jane said. ‘It was a great social life for anyone; everyone just got on with things and it was a real team effort. It became a second family; as part of YF you joined a club that looked after you, I certainly appreciated that, as a very shy 14-year-old, still unable to drive, it was a lovely community in which to grow up.’
But is all this just recollections of what we might call, in Jersey, temps passé, a past now irretrievable?
Jane answered: ‘The JYFs may not be active at the moment, but we thought we should still mark the anniversary — and who knows what might happen in the future? There are quite a few young children who, in a few years’ time, could be interested in joining a club like that. It could revive, and I’ve heard from young adults who would like to be part of that.
‘If the club were formed again, there would be plenty of past members who could give useful advice; we wouldn’t interfere, but could help when required.
Louise added: ‘Our own children, who have listened to their parents’ YF stories, are chomping at the bit, waiting for a club like that they can join. Members needn’t be farmers, just be interested in rural life.’
And as Jane said, ‘We are hoping that this reunion might spur things on a bit. It would certainly be nice to think so.’
(Reprinted with thanks to the Jersey Evening Post)
