Bankfoot JAC Wins Young Farmers Bale Art Competition

A giant teddy bear band made in Perthshire from straw bales was today (Friday 13th October) selected as the overall winner in a national young farmers’ bale art competition.

The club behind this impressive work of rural art is Bankfoot JAC whose entry was selected by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly from a line-up of six colourful and eye-catching finalist entries in this Scotland-wide competition.

Members of the club had battled in torrential rain to put the artwork up a few weeks ago and, unfortunately, the teddies sustained some “injury” in the storm the night they were put up. However, some emergency repair work the next day had them looking better than ever, and they went on to outshine the rest of the entries located throughout Scotland.

Over 50 entries were received in total with other popular bale art themes including trains, tractors, iconic Scottish brands and impressive models of the new Queensferry Bridge! The short-listed entrants produced a very high standard of artwork ranging from a collie dog, a selection of farm animals to Bill and Ben, a clown and a bride and groom!

The runner-up club in the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs competition, supported by Scotch Lamb PGI, was Thornhill Young Farmers (Dumfries and Galloway district) with a magnificent Bill and Ben bale art entry.

The other finalist clubs were West Renfrewshire Young Farmers (Clyde and Central district) Crossroads Young Farmers (Ayrshire district); Vale of Alford JAC (West Aberdeenshire district) and Strathearn JAC (Perthshire district).

This year SAYFC members were challenged to include the Scotch Lamb PGI brand in the bale art competition, the timing of which coincides with a major push by Quality Meat Scotland to raise awareness of the brand.

The young farmers hoped to inspire people, cheered by the sight of the bale art, to donate to STV Children’s Appeal via the Justgiving.com bale art page.

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who is a trustee and huge supporter of the STV Children’s Appeal, judged the young farmers’ finalist entries to select the overall winner.

“All the entries were fabulous and I loved judging them,” said Ms Kelly. “Selecting a winner was extremely hard but in the end, it just had to be the three teddies,” she said.

The Scotch Lamb theme of the 2017 bale art ties in with a marketing campaign which QMS is currently running to inspire millions of Scots about how easy it is to cook tasty, quick Scotch Lamb meals.

The ten-week campaign aims to encourage shoppers to add lamb to their weekly shopping lists and promotes Scotch Lamb PGI as a versatile ingredient ideal for busy families to enjoy as a mid-week meal.

Jim McLaren, Chairman of QMS, said: “Our congratulations to the winners and to all those who entered into the spirit of the bale art competition this year. It’s been great to see the young farmers up and down the country incorporating the Scotch Lamb logo into the design of their bale art and proving they are great ambassadors as well as artists!”

Suzie Dunn, SAYFC Chairman, said: “Well done to Bankfoot and all the finalist clubs and to all those club members throughout Scotland who took part this year. It’s been great to see the Scotch Lamb brand taking pride of place in the bale art displays too – our thanks to Quality Meat Scotland for their support. “