THE new chair of Cornwall Young Farmers’ Clubs is following in the footsteps of two of her business colleagues, taking on a role that has previously been held by partners at the firm where she has worked for four years.

Sophie Olds, 28, is head of accounts at Lodge & Thomas, the Truro-based firm of Chartered Surveyors, Auctioneers, Valuers & Estate Agents. Two of the partners, Andrew Body and Ed Harris, are both past chairs of the Cornwall YFC.

Sophie, who has been a Cornwall YFC member since she was 16, attended her first event as chair at a recent Harvest Festival Service at St Maddern’s Church, Madron, near Penzance, followed by a Harvest Supper at Landithy Village Hall. She has succeeded Jordan Edyvean as chair.

Sophie, who is from a farming background, is a long-standing and leading member of the Madron branch of Cornwall Young Farmers and credits the organisation with helping her master the skills she has needed in adult life.

She said: “Being in Young Farmers has given me lots of fun and lots of laughs – and loads of great memories. It has also given me skills, including public speaking. I think I am confidently able to speak in front of a large audience – there is not many organisations that would give you that confidence.”

In her year as chair Sophie hopes to encourage more Cornwall YFC members to take part in the many competitions that the organisation runs. “Young Farmers is a massive social group for a lot of people – and that is great,” she said. “But I would like to see members competing a lot more, in-house and more widely. There is so much they can learn from that.”

She said she also hoped to give as much support as possible to the younger members – and she encouraged everyone to keep up to date with all the YFC events, via the clubs’ social media pages. She added: “There is so much going on.”

Finally, Sophie paid tribute to NFU Mutual for their sponsorship: “We’re really grateful for their support. It’s so important to us and we have a really great relationship.”