From a nervous 12-year-old at the village hall to an entertainer helping to raise thousands for charity – James O’Neill’s time in YFC has changed his life.
James, an agricultural engineer from Coleshill and a beef farmer, has just bowed out of YFC after 16 years. He finished on a high having been Club Chair for Coleshill and Finance and Operations Chair for Warwickshire County Federation. It was a tough gig, and he’s ready for a break – but he won’t be cutting all ties with YFC.
“Since I was 12 years old, every Wednesday night has been Young Farmers so it’s going to be different,” said James who has promised to be a club leader and is already missing competing. “After the AGM they were talking about how they were going to do this football competition, and I thought ‘I want to come’ – then I remembered, I can’t, I’m too old.”
It is YFC competitions that have introduced James to a very different world outside of farming – one where there’s less mud and a lot more glitter! Entertaining crowds at events is a different experience to helping on his family beef farm where he needs to feed the cows before work and again on his way home.
“We farm beef, and we still have some suckler cows. My dad wasn’t very well a couple of years ago and if he got down to calve a cow he wouldn’t get back up again, so I have been helping more,” explained James.
Despite the farming demands, James still found time to practice and enter competitions – something he says his club ‘encouraged.’
“YFC push you out of your comfort zone to do things you wouldn’t have thought of doing. Without YFC, I wouldn’t have thought about doing Public Speaking or Auctioneering.”
It was the Auctioneering competition that inspired a new sideline for James, as he discovered a natural talent for it.
“As a kid, I would go with my grandad to sales and listen to the auctioneers. I’d mess about pretending to be an auctioneer but it wasn’t until I started competing in Young Farmers that I realised I had a knack for it.”
James reached the national Auctioneering final in 2023 and placed third on the day, coming in behind two full-time auctioneers. The judges were impressed with James’ style and even offered him a job.
“The judges came and found me in a café after the competition and said ‘if we could offer anyone a job today, it would be you.’ I thought, why didn’t I win then? But the scoring is split – with half on your selling skills and the other half is on your evaluation and description of items.”
James’ standout performance in the final quickly drew attention, leading to an invitation to be the auctioneer at a local charity event – and soon after, a bigger opportunity alongside Adam Henson at a fundraising night.
The event, organised by two-Midlands based farmers, was a special leaving party before the pair rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for Meningitis Now and charity Get A-Head.
It was a step on from the local club events, but YFC skills stood him in good stead.
“I have always been fairly confident, but I still felt a bit nervous when I turned up at the Coventry Rugby Club for this charity event. It was full of corporates, and I didn’t really know anyone there. It was quite daunting getting up on stage at first, but I got through it and raised about £80,000,” said James.
“Public Speaking competitions have helped me handle a crowd and be able to present myself at these events.”
Since then, the invitations have kept on coming. Word has got around about James’ natural patter on stage and his showmanship – complete with glittery suit.
“I have been master of ceremonies at a few weddings now and YFC balls. I have made games that I’ll play with the crowd, I get people on stage. I just make it into a bit of a show.
“Being an entertainer is an outlet for me. It gets me away from spanners and out and about rather than just talking to my dog in the van. I’m up early every morning on the farm and then doing my job. Being an entertainer is good for my mental health. We can have a bit of fun!”
More auctioneering job offers have also been dangled but while James hasn’t been tempted to leave his engineering career behind just yet, he says it does give him options for later in life.
“It could be a career path for me in the future when I get slightly older and my knees and shoulders give way. As an auctioneer I can just walk across a pen of cattle and ramble away,” said James.
Being involved in the auctioneering is also giving James another way to stay involved in YFC as he’s booked for more balls and charity events. And he says it’s thanks to the organisation that he even discovered his talents as an MC.
“I would never have discovered I was good at this without YFC. I’d be living a normal life and not doing these mad things,” laughed James.
“The confidence has come from Young Farmers 100%. You do things you never thought you would.
“I come alive when someone hands me a mic. Something changes in me, and I think… ‘it’s time to put on a show’.”
