Juggling the demands of supporting 30 members as Club Secretary for Brockenhurst YFC in Hampshire with enjoying time as a member has been a learning curve for Izzy Bennett.
The most surprising responsibility was the amount of knowledge I would gain – and how much everyone else would rely on me for this knowledge!
I like to be quite organised in general so I just allocate time each day for the emails and set aside extra time in the week for any longer responsibilities. Also having a great team of leaders to help share responsibilities is amazing!
Probably confidently structuring professional emails to varying recipients. This has really helped in college too and will help in the future.
My initial transition from being a young member who just turned up to meetings and events to a secretary who had a lot of responsibilities came with a new level of awareness about how to organise and set up meetings to me being able to participate as a member.
This was initially a challenge as it could be hard to separate myself when my secretary responsibilities were needed. I soon adjusted and again with the help and support of the leaders around me I am able to balance both roles.
We meet separately for programme meetings and have a committee who use members' feedback about what they would like to do. We include practising for competitions and prepare for charity events we are supporting. These are fairly relaxed and after the dates have been put in the planner, different members of the committee are given the responsibility to organise certain meetings.
Probably the best meeting idea we had was our games night hosted by Storms Farm with Andrew and Sarah Parry-Norton. They created a competition where members would battle to knock each other off a tarp covered pole into a straw pit.
I would recommend staying as organised as you can with emails and check them whenever you can. Most importantly, I’d recommend not being afraid to ask for help as that is what people are there for. Along with this, it’s so important to remember to still enjoy and take part in Young Farmers as a member.
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.
