THE sun drew the visitors to Herefordshire Young Farmers annual rally on Saturday making it the first time in six years without mud.

“It was absolutely wonderful and we had one of our best turn outs ever,” said the competition’s chairman Cliff Price.

“It was a pleasure not to wear wellingtons and not have to spend time pulling vehicles out of mud,” he said.

All 18 clubs in the Herefordshire Federation took part and most of the 700 members were involved in supporting or taking part in up to 35 classes of competitions.

Cliff, a member of the YFC for 12 years, described the quality of entries as very high and competitve and called the day fantastic.

But he said staging the rally, this year at Ballingham Hall Farm, courtesy of David and George Watkins, was an incredible operation.

It took months of preparation and he appreciated the help of members, officers and especially parents and grandparents, who gave unstinting support to make it all possible.

And the support did not stop with the end of competitions – which started at 9.30am and finished at 5.30pm – as many weighed in to help gather up five skips of rubbish left by well over 1,000 visitors so they could leave the site as they had found it.

There were many winners but the club with the most points overall was Welsh Newton YFC.

Cups and certificates for prizewinners were presented by YFC county chairman Andrew Marson, former headteacher of the Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School in Hereford.