Gonerby YFC Rooted in the Land, Built for the Future

Gonerby YFC

Rooted in the Land, Built for the Future

Latest Articles

Scroll, Post, Plough: How Gen Z Found Gonerby YFC Through Their Phones and Decided to Stay
Sports & Competition

Scroll, Post, Plough: How Gen Z Found Gonerby YFC Through Their Phones and Decided to Stay

It started with a video of a calf being halter-trained that got more views than anyone expected. Now, a new wave of Gonerby YFC members is arriving with smartphones in their pockets and a genuine curiosity about rural life — and what they're finding when they show up is keeping them around far longer than a viral moment ever could.
Quiet Fields, Louder Minds: What Gonerby YFC Is Doing for Rural Youth Mental Health
Youth Development

Quiet Fields, Louder Minds: What Gonerby YFC Is Doing for Rural Youth Mental Health

While the national conversation about young people's mental health tends to focus on urban pressures and screen time, something quietly significant is happening in the fields around Great Gonerby. Members of Gonerby YFC are finding that structured outdoor activity, genuine peer connection, and a sense of purpose are doing more for their wellbeing than anything they've encountered elsewhere.
Leading from the Front: The Women Shaping Gonerby YFC's Future One Decision at a Time
Youth Development

Leading from the Front: The Women Shaping Gonerby YFC's Future One Decision at a Time

The image of rural leadership as an exclusively male domain is getting a thorough overhaul inside Gonerby YFC, where women are chairing committees, winning competitions, and — perhaps most importantly — showing younger members what's actually possible. We spoke to some of the women at the heart of the club about what leadership looks like when you're rewriting the rules.
Cold Hands, Sharp Minds: The Hidden Season That Shapes Gonerby YFC's Best Members
Youth Development

Cold Hands, Sharp Minds: The Hidden Season That Shapes Gonerby YFC's Best Members

When the fields go quiet and the days shrink to nothing, Gonerby YFC doesn't slow down — it shifts gear. Discover how members are using the winter months to stack qualifications, master new machinery, and build skills that last long after the frost thaws.
The Real Price of a Gonerby YFC Membership: Parents Tell It Straight
Youth Development

The Real Price of a Gonerby YFC Membership: Parents Tell It Straight

Membership fees are the easy part. The real investment — in time, in taxi runs, in washing muddy kit at midnight — is something else entirely. We asked Gonerby YFC parents to be completely honest about what it costs and what they've got back.
Beyond the Farm Gate: Why Gonerby YFC Is Opening Its Doors to a New Kind of Member
Sports & Competition

Beyond the Farm Gate: Why Gonerby YFC Is Opening Its Doors to a New Kind of Member

Farming families have always been the backbone of Young Farmers clubs. But as rural Lincolnshire changes, Gonerby YFC is asking a harder question: who does the countryside actually belong to? The answers are reshaping the club in ways nobody entirely predicted.
Frost, Fires and Fresh Thinking: What Gonerby YFC Gets Done When Nobody's Watching
Youth Development

Frost, Fires and Fresh Thinking: What Gonerby YFC Gets Done When Nobody's Watching

When the show season ends and the fields go quiet, Gonerby YFC doesn't hibernate — it hatches plans. The club's winter months have quietly become its most creative, producing some of the boldest ideas in its recent history.
Putting Down the Phone, Picking Up a Purpose: Why More Lincolnshire Parents Are Choosing Gonerby YFC
Youth Development

Putting Down the Phone, Picking Up a Purpose: Why More Lincolnshire Parents Are Choosing Gonerby YFC

Rural parents are increasingly fed up with the battle over screens — and some of them have found an unlikely answer in a Lincolnshire Young Farmers Club. This is what actually happens when teenagers trade TikTok for lambing shifts.
Planted in a Village, Growing into Business: The Entrepreneurs Gonerby YFC Didn't Know It Was Making
Sports & Competition

Planted in a Village, Growing into Business: The Entrepreneurs Gonerby YFC Didn't Know It Was Making

Something unusual is happening among Gonerby YFC's alumni. A cluster of small businesses, social enterprises, and rural ventures have sprung up in recent years — and the founders keep pointing back to the same starting point.
Three O'Clock and Counting: The Gonerby Members Living Inside Lambing Season
Youth Development

Three O'Clock and Counting: The Gonerby Members Living Inside Lambing Season

It's 3am in a Lincolnshire barn, the straw is damp, and nobody has slept properly in four days. For Gonerby YFC members, this is the most important classroom they'll ever sit in. Here's what really happens when lambing season takes hold.
Ten Years On: How Gonerby YFC Quietly Shaped the Adults Nobody Expected
Youth Development

Ten Years On: How Gonerby YFC Quietly Shaped the Adults Nobody Expected

They joined as teenagers who didn't quite know what they were signing up for. A decade later, they're farmers, business owners, teachers, and officers — and they all point to the same starting point. We tracked down former Gonerby YFC members to find out what the club really gave them.
Clippers, Chaos and Countdown: Inside the 48-Hour Sprint to Show Day
Sports & Competition

Clippers, Chaos and Countdown: Inside the 48-Hour Sprint to Show Day

The public sees gleaming animals and composed handlers. What they don't see is the 48 hours before — the washing, the clipping, the escaped livestock, and the nerve-shredding logistics that Gonerby YFC members navigate to get their exhibit ready. We went behind the scenes so you don't have to wonder.
The Invisible Months: What You Never See Before Gonerby's Show Ring Moments
Sports & Competition

The Invisible Months: What You Never See Before Gonerby's Show Ring Moments

The rosettes look effortless from the ringside. The animals gleam, the handlers move with quiet confidence, and the whole thing appears to unfold as naturally as a summer afternoon. But behind every Gonerby YFC show day success is a story that begins months earlier, in muddy yards and late-night preparation sessions far from any audience.
Four in the Morning and a Ewe in Trouble: The Lambing Lessons That Last a Lifetime
Youth Development

Four in the Morning and a Ewe in Trouble: The Lambing Lessons That Last a Lifetime

Every spring, Gonerby YFC members trade their sleep for something far more valuable — the raw, unscripted education of lambing season. From panic to purpose in the small hours, these exhausted young farmers are quietly becoming some of the most resilient people in Lincolnshire.
Mud on Your Boots, Open Minds: How Gonerby YFC Is Writing a New Story About Who Belongs in the Village
Youth Development

Mud on Your Boots, Open Minds: How Gonerby YFC Is Writing a New Story About Who Belongs in the Village

When city families started arriving in Lincolnshire's villages during the pandemic, few expected farming communities to roll out the welcome mat. But at Gonerby YFC, something quietly remarkable has been happening — and the friendships being forged across the rural-urban divide are changing what the village looks like from the inside.
Rivals, Records and Respect: The County Showdowns That Make Gonerby YFC's Blood Run Hot
Sports & Competition

Rivals, Records and Respect: The County Showdowns That Make Gonerby YFC's Blood Run Hot

Forget what you think you know about friendly village competition. When Gonerby YFC goes head-to-head with neighbouring clubs at county level, the stakes feel every bit as real as any elite sporting contest. This is the story of Lincolnshire's fiercest inter-club rivalries — the preparation, the history, the heartbreak, and the hard-won glory.
Soil to Storefront: The Quiet Business Revolution Being Hatched Inside Gonerby YFC
Youth Development

Soil to Storefront: The Quiet Business Revolution Being Hatched Inside Gonerby YFC

Gonerby YFC has always been about more than livestock and land — it turns out it's also been quietly producing some of Lincolnshire's sharpest young entrepreneurs. From artisan food ventures to agri-tech start-ups, members are turning club skills and connections into real, thriving businesses. And the best part? They're building things this county genuinely needs.
Youth Development

The Wellbeing Case for Wellies: Why Gonerby YFC Might Be the Smartest Thing You Do for Your Teenager This Year

Teenage anxiety is rising. Disconnection is at record levels. And while there's no shortage of apps, programmes, and professional interventions being marketed at worried parents, one of the most effective answers might be considerably simpler — and considerably muddier. Here's why Gonerby YFC makes a compelling case for being Lincolnshire's most underrated mental health resource.
Show Me the Money: The Grassroots Fundraising Machine Keeping Gonerby YFC Running
Youth Development

Show Me the Money: The Grassroots Fundraising Machine Keeping Gonerby YFC Running

Running a rural youth club costs more than most people realise — and Gonerby YFC has quietly developed a fundraising approach that other community organisations across Lincolnshire would do well to study. From charity auctions and farm tours to produce stalls and sponsored countryside challenges, here's how the club makes the money work.
Three Nights, No Sleep, and Everything You Need to Know About Leading: Gonerby's Lambing Season Diaries
Youth Development

Three Nights, No Sleep, and Everything You Need to Know About Leading: Gonerby's Lambing Season Diaries

When the lambs start arriving in the early hours of a Lincolnshire February, Gonerby YFC's youngest members discover something no lesson plan could ever teach them. Follow three of the club's newest faces through a week of lambing and find out why this ancient rural rite of passage is quietly building the next generation of leaders.