Once again, the Aberdeen-Angus YDP Finals took place in early October. The setting this year for our fantastic Finals was Melton Mowbray Market in Leicestershire.
Finalists and their families started arriving at our host hotel in Nottingham late on the afternoon of Friday 9th October. After checking in and getting settled, all finalists were brought along to a buffet dinner, where the YDP coordinators supplied them with their uniforms for Saturday and gave a briefing on the plan for Finals day.
After this, as an icebreaker and a bit of fun, James Morrison, 2025 Senior winner, held a mock auction with the finalists and also played some games, which brought some great laughs from everyone.
Onto Saturday morning, and after a 40-minute drive to Melton Mowbray Market, everyone was excited to get started on what was to be a fantastic day’s activities. The whole group, including finalists, parents and onlookers, were given a safety briefing by the coordinators, and then all the finalists were split into their working groups for the day.
Throughout the day, the finalists were put through clipping, grooming, ringcraft and stock judging, while our Intermediate and Senior groups also had to give a presentation and take part in an interview, respectively, with our panel of judges.
We also had two informative workshops running throughout the day, one on nutrition and the other a veterinary presentation, for the finalists and any parents who wished to listen in.
The whole day was jam-packed, starting at 9.30am and running right through until 4.30pm, when the finalists made their way back to the hotel for our gala prizegiving dinner.
Before moving on to the gala dinner and prizegiving, the YDP coordinators and committee wish to thank Melton Mowbray Market and their staff for the fantastic venue and lunch they provided for everyone on the day. We also wish to thank everyone who brought cattle and clipping crates to the Finals. This was a massive undertaking by everyone involved, and without you, none of this could happen.
Also, to all our judges and stewards, thank you for all the hard work you put in over the course of the day to make everything run so smoothly.
We had a fantastic Finals dinner back at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nottingham, and when everyone was well fed, we got down to the speeches and announcing the winners. We heard from both our YDP Chairman, Stephen Wallace, and our Aberdeen-Angus President, Matthew Currie.
2025 Senior winner James Morrison was then invited on stage to present the prizes to all the individual section winners, before we invited President Matthew Currie and Vice President Bill Taylor to present the prizes to the overall winners.
Junior Section
1st – Sophie Tunney
2nd – Olly Patterson
3rd – Serena Speakman
Intermediate Section
1st – Jack Heath
2nd – Thomas Goldie
3rd – Adam Kearney
Senior Section
1st – Ollie Garnett-Smith
2nd – Alexander Crombie
3rd – Eoin Robinson
Congratulations to all our finalists and winners from what was once again a fantastic YDP Finals weekend.
The YDP coordinators and committee want to thank our sponsors, Showtime Show Supplies and Harbro, for their generous support throughout the year.
We look forward to 2027 and hope to make it a bigger and better year for the YDP.
Niall Lynch
YDP Coordinator, Ireland
