WITH memories still fresh of flooding and foot-and-mouth, members of Worcestershire Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs took part in the traditional Plough Sunday service at Saint Peter and Paul's Church in Upton- upon-Severn in January.

Representatives from clubs all over the county hoped for a good harvest in the autumn as they carried soil, a traditional plough and a milk churn down the aisle where they were then blessed by a vicar.

Plough Sunday is an ancient ceremony that has origins dating back to the Middle Ages when on the Sunday after the Epiphany a plough would be brought into church to be blessed before the first furrows of the new season would be cut and the crops sown in the ground.

The following day, Plough Monday, the plough would be taken round the village and a collection made for the church. Modern day ploughs are far too large to bring into the church and the switch to winter-sown wheat means ploughing has been done long before January but nevertheless Plough Sunday is still a festival that is celebrated today.