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.

James Capper at the Yorkshire Sculpture Museum

If you are in the north of England between 5 January and 14 April, you could think of visiting the Yorkshire Sculture Park, near Wakefield. You will be able to see an exhibition of the sculptures of James Capper.

According to the museum's website: "James Capper’s extraordinary sculptures can walk, swim and climb mountains. This exhibition, which showcases Capper’s on-going interest in industrial machines and the aesthetics of mechanical power, includes his Earth Marking, Offshore and Material Handling series."

There is more about the exhibition here. We are pleased that during the period of the exhibition the museum shop will be stocking two of our earthmoving books: Walking with Giants and Know Your Diggers.

Bulkhaul 3 DVD commended by Biglorryblog

Once again Brian Weatherly and Boglorryblog have praise for a new DVD by Pete Connock and Martin Phippard. See here for some kind comments.

Julanne Arnold

The death has been announced of Julanne Arnold, formerly books editor at Farming Press. Julanne died peacefully on Sunday 25th after several years' illness. She was 81.

In the photograph from December 1993 Julanne is centre front in a pale blouse. Around her, left to right, are Farming Press staff: Catherine Britton, Annie Shead, Roger Smith, Peter Melling, Samantha Blain, Claire Newbery and Sue Dalgleish.

Julanne was loved by us all for her warmth, humour, wide range of interests, knowledge and intelligence. She was a superb editor, as the authors with whom she worked during her ten years at the company said time and time again.

Julanne came out of her retirement to undertake free-lance editing in the early days of Old Pond. She and her husband Roy offered the great support that was just what we needed and for which we will always be grateful.

Julanne Lynn was born in October 1931 in Chester, South Carolina. After university she became an editor for the book publishing company Harper & Row in New York where she met Englishman Roy Arnold who also worked in publishing. They were married in 1963. Julanne and Roy settled in England, at first in London, then thirty years ago in Needham Market, Suffolk. There Roy ran an historic tools trading, publishing and bookselling business.

For many years Julanne worked as an editor for Egon Ronay, leaving in 1987 to join Farming Press, locally based in Ipswich. Roy Arnold died in December 2009.

Julanne is survived by her sister Willa, son Harry and daughter Kate as well as grandchildren Gabriel and Isabel. From 2008 Julanne ran a personal blog which you can log on to here. Her memorial service was held at St John the Baptist Church, Needham Market, on 10 December. The Order of Service and some memorable tributes by Willa, Kate and Harry can be found here.

Change of staff at Old Pond Publishing

Jennie Johnson has now joined Old Pond as sales and marketing executive. A Nottingham University graduate, Jennie has previously marketed books for Routledge - Taylor & Francis. She can be reached on [email protected].

Heather Jarrold, who was with Old Pond for seven years, has moved to the marketing department of a large construction company.

New annual catalogue from Old Pond Publishing

Old Pond's latest annual catalogue, 40 pages including details of just under 300 DVDs and books, is due in to stock this Thursday. Customers should receive their copies by post next week, 8-12 October.

For further information please email [email protected].

 

UK Heavy Haul DVD awarded five stars by Biglorryblog

See Commercial Motor magazine's Biglorryblog for a five-star appraisal of the new DVD by Pete Connock and Martin Phippard, UK Heavy Haul. Brian Weatherley writes: "The 85-minute DVD gets a BLB five-star rating. I enjoyed every minute of it, backed up as usual by Martin's expert commentary."

Roundoak Nynehead and Old Pond

By mutual consent, it has been agreed that from 1 October Old Pond Publishing will no longer distribute books and DVDs from Roundoak / Nynehead.