Carlisle Young Farmers Dinner

On Friday 26 March, we were invited to Carlisle YFC dinner dance at The Shepherds Inn. On the table, there was Michael, Kevin B, Carrie, Kevin C, Fiona, Leanne, Julie O, Sandra, Emma P and myself.

The evening started by us all meeting in the foyer for a quick drink before making our way to the table where we were had a very good meal.

Before the meal, Nick Utting welcomed all the guests to The Shepherds Inn then asked Craig Norman to say grace, which was amusing. For starter there was a choice of cream of vegetable soup and melon sorbet. Then for main was the traditional roast beef dinner with all the trimmings; and of course both Kevin’s had to have seconds which did lead into slight confusion with the waitresses who ended up shouting at each other over the ‘GRAVY!!’. Finally, for dessert, there was a fabulous choice of chocolate torte, sticky toffee pudding and raspberry pavlova then coffee and mints to top it off.

After the meal, it was time for the speeches. Nick Utting gave the first speech about when he was a member of Carlisle about 40 years ago. The next speech came from Richard Miller – Carlisle YFC Chairman, and he gave his thanks to the club secretary and president. Finally, we listened to a talk from the legendary Geoff Capes.

Geoff Capes is a former British and Commonwealth shot-put champion and is one of Britain’s most capped male athletes and has represented Britain in international events
including Munich, Montreal and the Moscow Olympics. Not only that, but he has also won ‘Worlds Strongest Man’ competition twice, in 1983 and 1985. His talk was fascinating and we were all glued to our seats listening intensely.

After all the speeches were complete, there was a live band called ‘Band Camp’. They played some great songs so we were able to get up and dance.
All in all, we all had a great evening!
Emma Thomlinson

David Allen Demons Heartbroken

A team consisting of Myself, Ricky, Robert, Craig, Mark James, Marc Green and David Arnold were invited to a six a side football competition at Sheepmount last night.

The event was organised by System Group in aid of Sports Relief and other teams taking part were Stobart Rail, System Apprentices and System IT Workers. We entered a team in the guise of "DA Demons" and we departed for the Sheepmount in high spirits and confident of a win.

After a quick stop at the Original Johns Plaice to refuel and take on extra carbohydrates, we arrived early at the Sheepmount eager to get in to action.

We were not on until the 2nd game, which allowed us to take in the first game between the two System Group sides, which ended in the impressive System Apprentices winning. We were on next against Stobart Rail and after a steady 8 minutes, the game was drawn 0-0. Not a bad start.

We were back on straight away against the Apprentices side. The game was end to end with each side exchanging goals to make it 2-2 with minutes to play. Then with one final push forward, the Demons were able to get the ball in to the box for “striker” Jack Clegg to convert in the bottom left hand corner and complete his hat trick! After some enquiries, it was confirmed by the ref that this goal had gone in. The game finished 3-2 and after drawing our last game against the System IT Workers and we thought we would be in the final with our 5 Points.

However there was an enquiry lodged about the third goal the Demon’s had scored against the Apprentices and the referee changed his decision which meant that the game finished at a two all draw and not the impressive win we thought we had which also meant we would miss out on the final.

The tournament organisers decided that the two System teams would compete for the final and the Demons would be left heartbroken. Star performer on the night for the Demons was experienced campaigner Marc Green who controlled the midfield in the style of a young Roy Keane.

A good night was had by all and doing so raised some money for a good cause.
Jack Clegg