Te Puke Young Farmers, 1957. Many of the families represented in this photograph are still farming in the area today.
Te Puke Young Farmers, 1957. Many of the families represented in this photograph are still farming in the area today.
Te Puke Young Farmers are offering a trip down memory lane for past, present and future farmers.
Next Tuesday at Te Puke Golf Course, the young farmers will hold a nostalgia evening and reunion for anyone with an interest in farming and the club.
A Trip Down Memory Lane willshowcase memorabilia showcasing farming over the years, and is billed as a way of honouring past members and showing the current generation of young farmers the legacy they have left.
Secretary Natalie Cameron says the idea for the event has built from Ruth Morton, whose late husband Bruce was an enthusiastic member of Young Farmers, approaching the club with some of his memorabilia.
"He was a member when he was young, when it was huge," says Natalie. "That got us thinking, because we are trying to grow our club, and we thought maybe we could show our generation how important it was to them, and how much they got out of it. It kind of grew from there."
Ruth says she contacted Te Puke Young Farmers to see if they were interested in Bruce's slides and notes.
"His whole education was Young Farmers and he was very, very involved for quite a long time," says Ruth. "Then in 1971 he and a farmer from Taranaki went to Britain and other parts of Europe. It was funded by the producer boards and the Young Farmers and it was an amazing thing really."
She picked a selection of slides and letters to give today's Young Farmers to give them an idea of the hugeness of the trip and the differences between then and now.
"It had significant impact on his life," says Ruth.
"He had some interesting observations on things like what people were thinking about going into the EEC, the different points of view and what was novel, like rotary cow sheds and computer measurement systems."
Other past members will be at the event, which starts at 6.30pm.
"Our members are looking forward to it," says Natalie.
The club is also looking at more social events.
"We want to keep it simple and affordable, have fun and get off-farm, maybe visit each others' farms, talk about strengths and opportunities and what things we are trying to improve and learn from each other's systems, then have a casual barbecue afterwards."
More details on the evening are on the club's Facebook page.
