WITH their annual tractor pull today and their flower arranging competition last week, it’s been a busy time for the Jersey Young Farmers Club.

But the dedicated youngsters have still been finding the time to carry on with this year’s Battle entry, Jersey Young Farmers Chaos.

Since we last caught up with them, their harestails have arrived, and the girls have been cutting them ready to stick.

According to Emily Ryan, the team’s leader, they have now completed all of the floral letters spelling out the name of the exhibit, which will go around its skirting, and the boys in the team have been carrying on with the mechanical side of things.

‘Because our harestails have now arrived we are back on schedule,’ said Em-ily. ‘We’ve started our setpiece, and the boys been working hard on the mechanics. That is quite a big job and is taking quite a while, but it is progressing well.

‘We now have half a tractor welded on to the float, but the pop-up rabbits are proving trickier than we thought — although the boys have got a plan to make them work.’

Last week the team also had the fantastic news that one of their team members, Holly Fraser, had been appointed as this year’s Miss Battle. ‘We’re really pleased for her, but unfortunately it means that we’re going to lose her as a dancer,’ said Emily. ‘But she is still going to help us choreograph and come down when she can.’

Anyone who is au fait with Battle of Flowers traditions will know that the Young Farmers Club are synonymous with working up to the last minute. However, Emily says that for them it is all part of the Battle fun.

‘We try not to leave too much to the last minute, but a lack of help makes it hard,’ she said. ‘One time, five or six years ago, we actually didn’t finish our float — we were still sticking on flowers on our way down to the arena — but since then we have always been finished by 5 am when the honoraries arrive to help us out of the shed. We never sleep on the night before Battle, but I don’t think we would want it any other way — it is all part of the fun.

‘We actually enjoy doing it right up to the last minute as it gives us the Battle spirit. It really does get everyone excited.’

Emily added that for her and the rest of the team, the Battle of Flowers was a highlight of their summer. But she wishes more Islanders would get involved with the parade.

‘I wish more people came to see the Battle and I would like to see more funding for it,’ she said. ‘It is a Jersey tradition, and it is such an important thing for the Island. A lot more people should get involved.

‘Battle spirit is an amazing thing, and I hope there will always be a parade. When I have children I want them to be able to get involved in it. There is a lovely feel when you get in the arena on Battle morning and see everyone who has worked so hard. Jersey is just like that — a traditional place to live, and the Battle is something that means so much to the Island. There is a bit of a competition, but it is more about having the chance to work together to do something fun.’

So what are the team’s plans for the next fortnight?

‘It is just a case of carrying on. The boys are going to keep working on the mechanics and hydraulics and the girls are going to carry on harestailing,’ said Emily. ‘We had an ex-young farmer who came up last week to look at where our speakers can go, so hopefully they will be fitted soon.’

*Picture: Lucy Grist, Kayleigh Megaw (14), Gemma Bushnell and Rebecca Luce (14)