History was made earlier this week when candidates were being considered for the Elwyn Jones Memorial Scholarship when, for the first time, two exceptional candidates were awarded a scholarship each putting to good use the sum of £2,500 to study an agricultural topic abroad.

The Elwyn Jones Memorial Fund Scholarship in 1969 when Elwyn, late of Sheep House Farm in Hay-on-Wye was a founding member of Hay and Talgarth YFC and a later county president in Brecknock. His contribution to his own community and to British Agriculture was colossal, once described as having ‘a brain with the sharpness of a needle and the boring power of a gimlet coupled with the coolest of temperaments’ which made Elwyn hugely desirable to be involved in any committee. He served on the British Broadcasting Council, the Royal Smithfield Club, the NFU, the Farmers’ Club and the Royal Welsh Show to name just a few.

Through the Elwyn Jones Memorial Fund, his life and work was to be commemorated and proceeds from the fund are being used to assist Young Farmers Club members in Wales YFC, under the age of 30, to study an area of agriculture in an overseas country to add value to them and their own community or to the advancement of agriculture or horticulture as a whole.

The successful candidates for 2016 are Georgie Radmore of Clynderwen YFC and Lisa Davies from Llanarthne YFC in Carmarthenshire.

Georgie is employed by Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers (CCF) and hopes that the knowledge she will gain will help her in her role as a product manager for one of the largest farmer owned co-ops in Wales.

Scholarship judge Rob Lewis said: “We are delighted to support both Georgie and Lisa to achieve their aims for their study tours. Both scholars demonstrated well how if selected the knowledge they would gain would help them in their own careers but also to the agricultural industry as a whole. We look forward to hearing about their experiences.”