Last Sunday four team members travelled to Hendon, London to the start of the London to Mayo Charity Tractor Run 2022 and for the next three days they escorted 24 vintage tractors plus several support vehicles to Birkenhead, Merseyside. The tractors obviously were not permitted to use the motorway network so were restricted to mainly 'A' roads with overnight stops at Northampton and Staffordshire. The run went very well, a couple of tyres were replaced in a layby ( rear tractor tyres took about 20 minutes) and a wheel bearing (10 minutes) the expert mechanics on the support crew emulating pit stop guys for speed ! In fact at the second overnight stop they fitted a new clutch to a tractor on the hotel car park in less than 2 hours.
At Birkenhead docks we said our farewell to the tractor guys and gals (yes they had two female drivers) when they boarded the overnight ferry to Belfast. Our very good friends from Bike Marshals Ireland took up the baton and looked after the convoy for the following four days before arriving at their final destination at Cong in County Mayo........and why did they do all this ? Well they were raising money and awareness for a Childrens Cancer Charity to build a treatment centre at Cong called Daisy Lodge travelling a total distance of 522 miles. At the last count they had raised more than Euros115k. Its been a very exhausting week for everyone concerned but the question on everyone's lips is 'when are we doing it again' ?