CUMBRIA Young Farmers have proved themselves the best in the region after scooping a host of trophies and awards in the Northern Area Weekend.

Teams from Cumbria, Yorkshire, East Riding, Northumberland, Durham and Lancashire travelled to Hummersknott Academy, Darlington, for the event as guests of Darlington YFC,

The young farmers took part in a range of speaking and reading competitions, ballroom dancing and a choir competition.

The triumphs began with Cumbria A team taking first place in the junior public speaking competition.

Then Eden Valley’s Amy Swinbank took a well-deserved first place in the ‘Situations Vacant’ competition for Cumbria A while Alice Longmire, from Lowick YFC, took third place for Cumbria C.

The Cumbria A team competed against stiff competition to be placed second in the ‘Brainstrust’ competition.

The Junior Member of the Year competition saw the very best young farmers in the northern area compete against each other, with Cumbria B’s Rachel Armstrong (Greysouthen YFC) taking first place.

Ruth Cooper from Lowick YFC took second place for the A team and Pennine YFC’s Rachel Hewitt was placed fourth for the C team.

The Senior Member of the Year competition saw Cumbria A’s Eamon Monaghan (Skelton YFC) take first place.

Caldbeck YFC’s Laura Graham was placed fourth for Cumbria B and Walton YFC’s Abigail Graham was ninth for Cumbria C.

Saturday also saw Skelton YFC take the dance floor by storm for Cumbria C team with their ballroom dancing performance, which earned them a well-deserved first place.

Wigton YFC also showed their dancing prowess, taking second place for Cumbria A.

Possibly the most eagerly awaited competition of the weekend was the ‘Entertainments’ section.

Caldbeck YFC (assisted by members from Raughton Head YFC) took the stage by storm and secured first place for Cumbria A. Sedbergh YFC were close behind, taking second place for Cumbria C and Crook YFC were placed fifth for Cumbria B.

The success did not stop there, with Sedbergh YFC’s John Woof and Hannah Hodgson taking the ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’ awards respectively with Robbie Tuer (Raughton Head YFC) and Emma Armstrong (Caldbeck YFC) runners up in both categories.

The overall awards winner was announced on Sunday, with Cumbria A triumphing over all others, winning first place with 121points, a clear 27 points in front of their old adversaries Yorkshire YFC.

Cumbria C were placed third with 90 points and Cumbria B took fourth place with 89 points.