As a past winner of a British Farming Award for her role as a club leader, Sophia Tibbs has learnt a lot over the past three years as Club Secretary for Spalding & District YFC in Lincolnshire, where there are 44 members.
How busy it is at the beginning of a club year. You have to help sort memberships, past and new, do the minutes and agendas for business meetings and management meetings, as well as help to organise our first club event of the year – our annual tractor working day. I didn’t quite expect it, but once you get a routine it’s not so bad!
That is a very good question as YFC can take a lot of my time with my normal secretary responsibilities as well as helping to organise our club events.
I try and make sure I do at least one thing for myself in the week that isn’t YFC based and I try to spread the load a little as we do have a great committee who don’t mind helping with the small things, such as a thank you letter to a company we have just visited or making a phone call. YFC never feels like a chore though. I love what I do and love having the role I have and helping the club move forward and grow.
I won the Club Leader of the Year Award at the Young British Farming Awards last year, which was such an amazing achievement. It shows when you work hard and make the most of club opportunities it can lead to so many things and you can learn so much and meet some great friends!
One challenge when I first started was sharing the load, which I have now learnt to do. I felt as secretary it was all my responsibility but I have learnt I don’t have to do it all!
Another thing was building my confidence which proved to be essential and I feel I have really developed.
Our club has a great programme team. At our AGM meeting in June we have a programme idea suggestion box where members and our advisory are encouraged to share something they’d like to do or somewhere they’d like to visit to help give them some guidance. We also discuss ideas throughout the year at business meetings.
Our programme is broken up into three parts of the year as it can be quite challenging to confirm something too far in advance so we feel this has worked well.
One big tip I would share is communicate and shout for help if you need it and share the load. You may be a secretary or a minutes secretary but it doesn’t mean you have to do everything.
Junior members are the future, so let them help and show them what you do so one day they could be a great management member! Our juniors are so keen to help and get involved and, from what we have seen, they love helping and having some responsibilities.
If you would like to be featured in our club officer check in, email media@nfyfc.org.uk. Find more information and guidance for club officers in the YFC Handbook.
