Tractors show pulling power for club

Getting stuck behind one tractor is enough to send many drivers apoplectic even in this day and age of 40 mph farm boys’ toys, but chancing across a number of them chugging along merrily could totally ruin someone’s day.

Tractor runs have become part of the countryside social calendar in the past three decades and are quite a spectacle – if you’ve already arrived at your destination. Some have turned themselves into an additional town attraction too, adding to tourist honeypots such as Pickering during the summer when the famous Beadlam Tractor Run takes place.

Watching a succession of vintage machines, from the little grey Fergie to a Fordson, followed by today’s massive tractors with huge tyres and cabs that are almost as luxurious inside as a top-of-the-range car can be a great photo opportunity for those exploring the countryside.

Thorngumbald Young Farmers Club in Holderness has organised its own tractor run for many years and on Easter Monday, April 1, the back lanes of this usually slumbering corner of the East Riding will once again be alive with the sound of machines of all ages and sizes making their way through villages such as Roos, Halsham, Sproatley and Lelley.

Andrew Styche, who runs an arable and pig farming business at North Farm, Preston, hopes to be in the procession once again. He’s an ex-member of the club and owns a Massey Ferguson 135 from the 1970s.

“It’s a really good get together for the farming community where everyone can have a good time and enjoy the craic. We realise that the general public, if they get caught behind it, might not quite see it that way but we do generally keep out of the way of the main traffic and stick to the country lanes.

“I’ve had this tractor for about seven years and I still use Massey Ferguson tractors on the farm today although they are a bit more modern than this. Both my son Joshua and daughter Sarah are involved in the club although they are both away at university studying at the moment at Harper Adams and Northumbria.”

Somewhat ironically Andrew may only be in the tractor run if the weather continues to be inclement, as he is also a spraying contractor and is presently hoping that there will be an outbreak of dry weather before Easter. Like many others he needs to be able to make some headway with crop growth.

Andrew and Michael Richardson of South Park Farm, Burstwick are organising this year’s run. They are chairman and vice chairman of Thorngumbald YFC and they are hoping that this year’s affair will be one of the biggest. Michael is responsible for the entries and he will be checking the forecast in much the same as Andrew Styche but for a different result.

“The biggest thing is the weather. If it is horrible it can put people off but it was bad last year and we still managed to attract 48 in our first year as organisers. We get tractor drivers coming along from as far as York and Driffield and it’s all for a good cause. We raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of tractor you have, the more the merrier. I’d really like us to get to around 80 entries this year. A lot of the older boys come along with their vintage models that everybody loves seeing, and the younger lads of our age come on the modern ones. It can sometimes become a competition amongst them of who has the biggest tractor.”

The run starts from South Park Farm where Andrew runs the 500-acre family farming arable business that started four generations back.

He took over the farm four and a half years ago after completing his National Diploma in Agriculture at Bishop Burton College and they also combine a further 1,600 acres on contract for farms in the area.

He and Michael, who also attended Bishop Burton College to study engineering and who now works on the farm with him, have been tasked with the reinvigoration of Thorngumbald YFC which is currently going through one of those dips in numbers that all clubs suffer from time to time. The tractor run is just one event of a programme that the brothers are hoping will bring about more members in the months to come.

“At last year’s county rally we were down to just 15 members and the advisory committee gave me grief to do something about it. The club has been much stronger in the past but people get to an age when they go away to college and university and you lose them.

“You need to have good events such as the tractor run and visits to places that get people talking about how good the club is. One of the difficulties with visits these days is down to the health and safety laws.

“If you turn up somewhere and everyone is over the age of 18 there’s no real problem, but if you have members of 11-12 years old the places you visit do tend to get on edge about showing you around.

“We’ve had some fantastic visits in recent times, such as when we went to RAF Leconfield and looked around the Sea King helicopters and how they were operated.

“I’d say our membership is about 50 per cent farming and 50 per cent non-farming.

“The tractor run is an ideal time for anyone to get involved with the club.

“We start with bacon sandwiches here at 9am then we venture out into the countryside and stop at a local pub for a buffet lunch. We haven’t decided which one that is going to be just yet. It might be the Black Horse in Roos where we have stopped before.”

“It’s a 30 mile run altogether and after going out as far as Halsham we work our way back to finish at The Stag in Lelley for refreshments.

“Mike and I spend our time in the Land Rover making sure that the whole tractor run gets through at junctions and stays together; and that the tractor parking at pubs is carried out efficiently, as it can be mayhem.

“The whole of the club including current and past members turn out for it and many of them drive or shake a charity tin when we arrive in the various villages we go through.

“It can be a problem for the poor ‘sand diggers’ (a local term for those visiting the coast) but we try not to hold up any traffic for too long.”

The entry fee for anyone with a tractor who wants to take part in this year’s Thorngumbald YFC Tractor Run is £12, payable on the day.