The Farmers Mart Summer 2017 - Issue 51 | Page 81

Thorpe Farm Ripon Farm Services are proud suppliers to Barry Walker of Thorpe Farm near Catterick so he’s on a tractor for the season while I crack on at home with Lucy helping. Jennifer has a cattery and also looks after a few dogs too. She started kennelling in 2001. We have a few horses for pleasure and we’re involved with Hurworth Hunt. We also look after cattle for agricultural machinery man, Richard Bell. It’s a harp back to the days when the farm here had a dairy herd. ‘I’ve been here all my working life since leaving school at 16 and took over running the farm when we lost my mum Olwyn, known to everyone as Tot, in 2001. I did a little bit of work with Brian Robinson Agricultural Machinery. Since the age of 12 I’ve always been interested in fixing as much machinery as I can and I love refurbishing machinery through shotblasting and re-spraying. I painted up a lot of my dad’s vintage machinery when he’d bought them. ‘Dad’s passion wasn’t just tractors. He was a champion ploughman and in his house were hundreds of trophies and rosettes including the Yorkshire Hedgecutting & Ploughing Society U21 championship trophy. I have the same passion for ploughing and have competed many times. I won the Great Smeaton YFC ploughing title six years in a row and still enjoy ploughing today. Tommy now carries on the tradition that dad started and managed a second place in an open match reversible ploughing competition recently. That’s quite an achievement as it is a very competitive class at Amotherby YFC ploughing match, so he’s well on his way too. We both like our ploughing and like my dad, we can’t stand to see it not done right.’ The Great Smeaton Vintage Working Day was a real family affair. Barry’s sister, Janice used to put the programme together and everyone played their part. Barry remembers it with great affection. ‘The best memory for me was the smell of the steam engines all day. Thrashing machine in action, steam ploughing, the smell of the coal and seeing the horses ploughing were just fantastic to watch and amazing that it was all happening here. It was mum and dad with David Walker from Croft who started the event and it spiralled to attracting 2000 people. Horses would come from as far as Norfolk and it also ended up being a fantastic village produce day, a real attraction. www.farmers-mart.co.uk Summer 2017 81