Tractor heritage, news and features

Welcome... February 2012

But at this point it is relevant and not merely just a way of filling column inches as our magazine reaches its 100th issue.

Rather spookily, I was also reminded that this issue marks the third anniversary of me becoming editor of Tractor. The source of all this reminiscing lies with Pete Kelly’s summary of those early years in this issue which brought back so many memories – hope you enjoy it too.

It also gives me an excuse to drag out the picture on this page, taken from Tractor & Farming Heritage, February 2005. At the time I was feature writer/sub editor/general factotum for all the heritage titles at Mortons and although I had work featured in Old Glory and Heritage Commercials this was the first time for me to appear in Tractor & Farming Heritage magazine – for me the holy grail. What else do I remember most. It was bloody cold with a sub zero wind from the Boston Fens cutting right through you on a January morning.

So cold Bryan Bowles, owner of the Farmall M, took pity on me and took me back to his house for a bowl of his wife’s warming home-made soup. One of my first of many experiences of the good hospitality of tractor folk.

But enough reflection on the past, for it is what we do in the present that will affect our future (so they say) and the talented team of correspondents and people working behind the scenes at Mortons make that future look bright for the magazine.

2012 already looks promising, with key events such as the National Road Run and Newark Show set to feature alongside many other events we will report on in our own inimitable way.

Good news too from the Project Cornerstone charity, featured in issue 96 along with the Riseholme College, Lincoln where students are restoring and preparing the tractors and other items for them to be sent in the spring to aid communities in Ghana. Martin Hodgkinson, a director of the charity, has just confirmed that a three furrow disc plough has just kindly been donated to them. So now they just need a maize sheller to complete the shopping list.

Meanwhile, the Ford 4000, the second tractor required for the project, lies in pieces on the workshop floor at the Riseholme College awaiting the vital parts for the rebuild. Hopefully this will begin early in the new year with a crew of students eager to get involved in the project.

Will it be ready in time? Tractor magazine will bring you the students’ full account of how things unfold in forthcoming issues.

Tony Hoyland
Editor