More than 90 young agricultural professionals got together to let their hair down for the Moree Young Aggies Servicemen and Sweethearts Ball on Saturday night.

“It was really good,” Moree Young Aggies committee member Alice Devlin said.

“There was a good mix of people from out of town and in town, as well as lots of different professions.”

A total of $11,500 was raised on the night from a combination of sponsorship from local businesses, the auction and raffle, as well as ticket sales.

“We’re really happy with that,” Ms Devlin said.

“We received $8,000 in sponsorship from local businesses which is the most we’ve ever had.”

This year’s auction was an outstanding success, with four items going for a total of $2,400. The cube roll donated by Reado’s Meats proved popular, selling for an impressive $800.

There were also six raffle prizes which were donated from businesses around town.

Half of the total fundraising will go towards the Royal Flying Doctor Service, while the remainder will go towards the establishment of the Young Aggies Scholarship.

In conjunction with the Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers Association, the Moree Young Aggies hope to set up a scholarship aimed at encouraging students embarking on an agricultural discipline at university to eventually seek employment in the Gwydir Valley.

“The idea is to give a bursary for someone studying an agricultural-related degree to come and do work experience here and hopefully they’ll then stay on and gain employment in Moree,” Ms Devlin said.

“We’ll start advertising for that towards the end of the year.”

While the ball is the Young Aggies’ major fundraiser, the committee has a number of professional development opportunities planned for agricultural professionals in the region.

For more information on their upcoming activities, follow the Young Aggies on Facebook.

More photos of the Young Aggies Ball here.