After the 2013 European Rally, hosted by Macra na Feirme at Gurteen Ag College, my friend and I referred to the experience as “the best week ever”. In fact, we banned speaking about it because it was too hard to think that it was over. So, when the opportunity arose to be a part of the Macra delegation at the 2016 European Rally hosted by the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster at Greenmount Campus, I was very excited. We started getting organised months in advance. T-shirts needed to be designed and ordered. Food for the international buffet had to be decided and costumes for the fancy dress, opening and closing ceremonies had to be planned.

The Macra team were Helen from Laois, Bill from Waterford, Paul from Clare and Eilis and myself from Cork. None of us knew each other before the week but we knew that would soon change. On the morning of Saturday 30 July, the trip began.

The opening ceremony took place on Sunday morning. Teams gathered in traditional dress in the beautiful gardens of Greenmount with music from the award-winning PSNI band. The international buffet was held in the evening. With tables from each of the 17 organisations, it was a great evening getting to know the other delegates and the cuisine from around Europe.

The serious business began on Monday morning with workshops organised on racism, gender, LGBT and disability in keeping with the theme “Bridging Diversity, Growing Together”. The workshops were organised by a branch of local youth workers.

A trip into Belfast was organised on the following day and we got a guided tour of the murals around the city. That evening was the fancy dress with the theme “Myths and Legends”. The Irish team was made up of a GAA player, a leprechaun, a warrior princess, a child of Lir and St Patrick.

Wednesday was a day devoted to drama. Once again, facilitated by the youth workers, in small mixed groups we explored the themes of racism, gender, LGBT and disability from a creative perspective.

Next morning, my host William Beatty had a big schedule planned. Martin Blair showed us his chicken farm where he produces 100,000 eggs a day.

On Friday, all delegates got to tour the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. We were back on the buses again in the evening to go to Stormont Parliament Buildings for the closing ceremony. Stormont is an impressive building and we gathered both on the steps outside and the iconic steps inside for photos. Following speeches from the Minister of Agriculture, and the incoming and outgoing chairs of Rural Youth Europe, we enjoyed a magnificent four-course meal. We joked at the table that with meals like these, it was easy for power-sharing to be agreed.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the prep team and all in the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster who helped to put on such an enjoyable, informative and entertaining week. I’m sure that all of the delegates will take something back to their organisations to ensure that we are more inclusive of all kinds of people so that we can continue “Bridging Diversity, Growing Together”.