Old Pond publishing days

Harold Beer

Harold Beer died peacefully at home on 26 January after a brave battle against cancer. His wife Eileen and daughters Jean and Gemma were with him.

He was of course the inspiration and organiser of the much-loved Ferguson on the Farm series of programmes. He was 66.

Harold's coffin was borne from the family farm at Warkleigh, north Devon by Ferguson TE-20 tractor and 30 cwt trailer down the lanes to the Christian Fellowship chapel at Umberleigh.

The leading tractor was driven by Harold's cousin, Ernie Luxton.  The pall-bearers, in Massey Ferguson boilersuits, followed. The two Fergusons were bought new as a pair and have been in the family ever since.

Some 300 people, including friends from Ireland, attended the funeral. Harold, as Mike Thorne has written for the Ferguson Club obituary, 'was a true gentleman in every sense of the term.'

 

Derek Barton of Farming Press

Derek passed away peacefully on 16 January, aged 78. A larger-than-life personality, he was managing director of Farming Press during its great years of the 1980s.

Derek leaves his wife Angela, daughters Julie and Debbie, grandchildren Sarah, Simon and Huw.

Two fifty-pound winners and next year's LAMMA

At Old Pond we are handing out £50 gift vouchers to two lucky people.

The first, sent last week, was to Mr WS of Hull, winner of the draw for those people who returned DVD reply cards to us. 'Thank you,' wrote Mr WS after receiving the voucher. 'It is the first time in my life I've won anything. Maybe I'm going to have a change of luck in old age.'

The second winner is Mr DW of live.co.uk who visited our stand at LAMMA and was one of the people who asked to go on our emailed newsletter list. We pulled his form out of the hat. His response? 'Makes freezing my nuts off at Lamma worth it now.'

The next time we have a prize draw will be at the Malvern tractor show on 2 and 3 March. I can only hope it will be warmer there than it was in Newark last week where we were in the more or less unheated vintage area cut off from the rest of the show by the new marquee 8.

Now that the LAMMA show has filled Newark to capacity it is scheduled to move to Peterborough next year where there is a considerable increase in outdoor space. I attended one of the exhibitors' meetings where I saw few signs of enthusiasm for the move. Typical concerns about the East of England showground were limited access, particularly from the west, limited hard standing for trucks, fewer permanent buildings and a site prone to waterlogging.

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 3 DVD advance information

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 3 1977-88, George French and Dennis Burston. DVD, approx 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-62-1. Now available from Old Pond at £16.95.

In Part 3 of this 3-part set we move on to 1977–88, exploring implements and machines closely associated with the 500 and 600 tractor ranges. At the end of the programme we look forward to the 1990s.

From ploughing and other cultivations, manure and slurry handling, drilling, mowing and forage harvesting to combining and baling, this programme has a feast of Massey Ferguson farm activities. They have been re-created by MF enthusiasts using original or authentically restored machinery and tractors.

This programme completes a remarkable undertaking carried out by Dennis Burston and George French, supported by colleagues and family in the south-west of England. Altogether they have assembled a hundred items of MF implements, machines and combine harvesters, nearly all of which have been shown working. The three-DVD series, which covers the thirty years from 1958 to 1988, also includes some 44 different MF tractors operating with the equipment.

The tractors, implements and machines in Part 3:
MF 690 4wd and 41 4-furrow plough • MF 184F 4wd and 38 tiller • MF 590 and 150S 3-furrow plough • MF 595 Mk II and 160 5-furrow plough • MF 2645E 4wd and 24 6ft 6in chisel plough • MF 698 and 24 8ft chisel plough • MF 595 Mk II and 260 3-furrow reversible plough • MF 698 and 265 3-furrow reversible plough • MF 1200 and 39 spring-tine cultivator • MF 690 and 30 drill transporter • MF 690 and 30 4m drill • MF 148 and 70 rotary mower • MF 1130, 200 forage harvester and 200 7-ton silage trailer • MF 690 and 200 7-ton silage trailer • MF 290 and 14 baler • MF 595 MkII and 1450 round baler • MF 525 Super II combine harvester • MF 590 and 80 loader • MF 690 and 900 Rotaspreader • MF 290 and 100 800-gallon slurry tanker • MF 590 and 100 1,400-gallon slurry tanker • MF 2645E 4wd and 262 4-furrow reversible plough • MF 97 and 520 14ft semi-mounted disc harrows • MF 595 MkII and 500 4m grain-only drill • MF 3065 and 510 4m air drill • MF 399 4wd and 4 baler • MF 4235 and 139SB small-bale baler • MF 4270 4wd and 185MB large square baler • MF 20 combine harvester (stationary) • MF 690 and 200 7-ton grain trailer • MF 29XP combine harvester.

For more information about Parts 1 and 2, or to order them online see here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.