Old Pond publishing days

Demolition Giants programme - the first stills

Steven Vale is moving on to his third DVD for Old Pond - before the first (Massive Earthmovers 3) has been released. This time he has taken director Jonathan Theobald to record some of the biggest machines to be found in Europe's demolition business. The following photographs have all been taken by Steven.

This 50 metre version (left), owned by Euro Demolition, was filmed in action on 68 metre storage towers in the Port of Rotterdam.

Based on a modified Hitachi ZX870, it was converted to a demolition machine by Dutch-specialist STC. The result is a 165 tonnes machine that is capable of carrying a 5 tonnes top at full height.

This is a machine that is easily capable of cutting through the towers like a can opener.

Steve's  visit to Holland also included a first-hand look at the largest demolition project in the Benelux – a four-year contract to pull down a disused power station.

Located on the banks of the River Maas in the Southern Province of Limburg the project is handled by one of Holland’s largest demolition contractors - Beelen Demolition.

A big project requires big machines and the company brought two of its giants to the site.

The first is a modified Cat 395C (right), which two years ago was the very first European machine to boast a working height in excess of 60m.

Next to it is a brand new Hitachi EX1200 (left). However, even though this is one of the largest hydraulic excavators in the country it is not the Hitachi excavator that is the centre of attention here but rather the scrap shear - the world’s largest rotating version.

One of just a handful ever made, and one of the only two in Europe, the US-made Genesis GXP 2500 weighs close to 26 tonnes. This massive shear is easily capable of cutting through the thickest of steel beams at the site.

There is nothing that can prepare you for the sight of these two £1 million+ machines working side by side (right). This is extreme demolition at its very best.

The second of these massive shears (left) is currently earning its keep cutting up a number of old oil refineries at the Port of Moerdijk, to the south of Rotterdam.

Purchased from the US where it cost its owner Van Leeuwen Katwijk the best part of US$ 400,000, the shear is fitted to a used Hitachi EX1200 sourced from Spain.

The machine is working alongside a brand new Cat 385C fitted with the largest scrap shear currently available from Verachtert (right).

Called the VHS 70/3, although the 9 tonnes version is no match for the Genesis, it still commands respect.

Sponsoring a Suffolk Punch

Today we (who work at Old Pond) went over to Hollesley Bay, about fifteen miles from Ipswich, Suffolk, to have a first look at the Suffolk horse we have agreed to sponsor.

Colony Tanzin, a two-year-old being reared as a breeding mare, belongs to the Suffolk Punch Trust. In 2002 the Trust bought the land, buildings and stock formerly owned by the prison authorities and run as part of their remedial work at the Hollesley Bay Colony.

It has been a proper Indian summer day today and we are sure Tanzin would have preferred to have been outside grazing with the thirty other Suffolk Punches maintained by the Trust. However, Project ManagerJohn Marsh was kind enough to bring her in with a companion so that we could become acquainted.

The Trust derives income from a range of sources, earned and donated. The opportunity for the public to sponsor a horse has only been running for a very short time. The sponsorship is £40 per month. The Trust ensures that the horse which is sponsored is, as John Marsh puts it, 'one we intend to keep - hence the focus on better quality filly foals which will eventually be part of our herd of breeding mares.'

Old Pond is the Trust's first commercial sponsor. 'This took us a bit by surprise,' says John. 'We saw this scheme being taken up by ex-Suffolk horse owners who still wanted an association with a Suffolk without all the hassle.'

The Trust has a £1 million appeal running to raise funding for the creation of a new access road, car-parking and visitor building with education facilities. There are also plans for a static heritage display, the refurbishment of the stables and stalls and landscaping in the area of the buildings.

For more information about the Trust and to find out how to contribute financially or as a volunteer, visit www.suffolkpunchtrust.org

Colin Fraser

Colin Fraser, author of Harry Ferguson: inventor and pioneer and other books, died in Italy on Monday 12th September.

Colin Fraser was born in England in 1935, and educated in England, Canada and Switzerland. He qualified as an agriculturalist and became a lecturer and instructor on Massey-Ferguson farm tractors and equipment.

Colin developed a profound admiration for this excellent machinery. As he describes in the Introduction to Harry Ferguson, he never met his subject and so "was faced with the task of forming an impression of Ferguson as a man by talking to people who had known him and worked with him, and by reading his correspondence. Thus I travelled in Engalnd, Ireland, the United States of America and Canada to search out people and obtain their recollections of fact, and their opinions, about Ferguson. I was fortunate indeed to meet with co-operation everywhere I went; all the surviving people who had played a significant role in Ferguson's life gave of their time to talk to me. I interviewed a total of sixty-two people and recorded more than 160 hours of tape with them."

The divergent accounts of the interviewees were to plague Colin during his writing of the biography; and the task was only slightly eased by the papers at Ferguson's home, Abbotswood - in all, 150 solidly packed boxes. The result, first published by John Murray in 1972, is recognised as the pre-eminent biography of any farming pioneer.

Colin then became one of the early developers in applying communication media and processes to overseas development, promoting attitudinal and behavioural change among small farmers. For seventeen years he ran operations in this field for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation before, in 1984, becoming a consultant working for most of the main development agencies. Colin’s work took him to more than 60 countries, often, he said, "thrashing around in the bush".

He also found time to run a small commercial vineyard and wine-producing operation in Italy, with wines in all the main Italian and international wine guides. Colin learned to ski when he was two years old and became devoted to ski-ing and ski-mountaineering.

In later years Colin spent half his time in Colombia and half in Italy. He leaves a widow, Sonia Restrepo Estrada, and two sons, Stuart and Iain, as well as six grandchildren.

July 2000, after lunch at Grantchester, Cambridge. Left to right: Colin, Sonia, Sue Gibbard, Stuart Gibbard and Lesley Smith.

Books by Colin Fraser
The Avalanche Enigma, 1966 (later updated as Avalanches and Snow Safety).
Harry Ferguson: inventor and pioneer, John Murray, 1972, Old Pond, 1998
Lifelines for Africa - Peril and Distress, 1988
Communicating for Development: human change for survival (with Sonia Restrepo Estrada), 1998
Working with Bacchus, 2005

New book in stock - Little Bit O' Nonsense about Sheep

The new Henry Brewis compilation, Little Bit O' Nonsense About Sheep, is now available from Old Pond at £4.99. For details see blog 28 July.

David Holt, DVD narrator and Claas Matador owner

The scripts for the latest programmes from Old Pond Publishing - Massive Earthmovers Part 3 and Workhorse for the World, the story of JCB's backhoe loader - are being narrated by David Holt. David juggles a professional career as playwright and radio actor with an enthusiasm for combine harvesters.

David (right and left) has owned his 1967 Matador for nearly ten years. Previously the combine had been main machine at a farm in Lavenham, Suffolk. After it was superseded it languished in a barn for twelve years. You'll guess the second part of the story. David brought a new battery to the derelict and it started in twelve seconds and has needed virtually no 'restoration'.

David's Matador was putting its 12-foot cutter to work at the 22nd Barleylands Essex Country Show as part of the annual Harvest Demonstration.

Working alongside the Matador was a slightly smaller and older Claas, Phil Vidler's 1964 Mercury with an 8-ft cut (left). This spent most of its working life at Willow Farm, Althorne, near Southminster, Essex. Phil got it into good order after it was left for nine years in Crawfords' yard.

Phil, vice-chairman of the Rochford Hundred Vintage Traction Engine Club, has a long association with this excellent Barleylands event.

Des and Paul of Kelsey

Any British tractor enthusiast who goes to shows will know Kelsey's Tractor and Machinery magazine stand. This year they've cut back on the number of shows they visit - but they still seem to get to quite a few.

Here's the stand at this year's Barleylands Essex Country Show. On the left of the picture: Des, occasionally known to drink a glass of cider. Handling the money: Paul, who is making a good recovery from a serious knee operation.