Living out in the country does have its advantages, as you don’t have to put up with traffic lights, congested roads and other suburban hassles. So what does one do on Easter Monday when the locals are gathering for a tractor run, well you go along and find out what it is all about. Firstly, you get to meet everyone in the village and secondly you might find out a little bit more about your local community.
So when Melvyn told me that the tractor enthusiasts from the surrounding countryside were getting together on Easter Monday for a tractor run, I popped along to find out more. When I arrived at the local timber merchant’s car park there were already a good twenty-odd tractors of all vintages parked up, their owners deep in conversation about the lambing season, the lack of rain and the field cutting and silage tasks.
Munching early morning bacon rolls and drinking piping hot coffee, the men folk, their wives, children, mothers and assorted girlfriends chatted away excitedly. There was talk of gearboxes, ploughs, driveshafts and gear ratios, Fergusons, Fords, Leylands, Allis Chalmers, International, David Brown, Nuffield, Implematic, Super Dexta and many more. One enterprising farmer had constructed a kind of ‘dickie seat’ that was suspended off the back of his tractor – this was fitted with two comfortable seats, one of which was occupied by his wife, who I was reliably informed, accompanied him on all such runs.
You see, last year this group of tractor enthusiasts collected around £3,500 for a childrens’ hospice Tŷ Hafan in Cardiff, to which another group added a further £1,200. One family was faced with placing their young son, Ieuan, in this hospice, which was a very traumatic experience, but their fears were quickly dispelled. “We took Ieuan into his room and it was like being in Disneyland, they had made his room so very special, exactly how he would like it… Everything is possible at Tŷ Hafan,” the family later said. Tŷ Hafan in Cardiff caters for terminally ill children and with state funding having been withdrawn, their only source of income is from private donations.
This year’s tractor run, expected to raise in excess of £3,000, will see the funds being donated to the children’s wing of the West Wales General Hospital, Glangwili, Carmarthen, for the purchase of a new motion sensored blood pressure monitoring machine. If you feel like donating to this worthy cause, please call Janet Millward, Sen. Sister, Cilgerran Ward, T: 01267-227 581.
On the 18th May, 2011 the locals gathered at the newly renovated Talardd Arms for an evening of merriment and general misbehaviour. Clive Edwards was on hand to sing some good earthy Welsh songs which had most of the audience joining in. I have heard some story telling in my time but this Edwards chap can spin a few yarns better than most – I don’t know where they found him! An auction followed and the evening was rounded off with some more singing and jollifications, and all in the name of charity and good fun. The point of this evening’s entertainment was to hand over the cheque to Meinir Davies from the hospital for the purchase of the new monitor.
…can’t wait for next year’s event!!
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