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New Holland delivers blue Tilly Tractor

New Holland delivers blue Tilly Tractor to unique charitable farm.

8/9/2013

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An extraordinary team of farmers in Cambridgeshire is celebrating the delivery of a newly minted New Holland machine – which has already been christened Tilly Tractor.

The brand new T4.75 arrived at Snakehall Farm in Reach, which is run by the Prospects Trust. It gives people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities or mental health issues the opportunity to train and work in agriculture and horticulture as co-workers on an 18-acre organically certified care farm.

The registered charity, which is unique in the UK to teach tractor driving to its target trainees, received the New Holland tractor in a part-exchange deal with the Fulbourn branch of Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd.

The T4.75 was officially christened Tilly Tractor at a special ceremony at Snakehall Farm when a giant ribbon was cut in front of a crowd of co-workers. It even has its own Facebook page, Twitter account and blog!

Unusually the Trust wanted a smaller tractor to slow down the speed of its harvesting to give more people experience using machinery. The versatile and dependable T4.75 came with a shuttle gearbox and 720 front loader.

The deal was agreed after several co-workers who help to run the farm voted in favour of buying it after inspecting the tractor at the Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd dealership.

As well as growing vegetables and plants, Snakehall Farm also produces fire wood to sell in their farm shop. The Trust works with other community businesses and social enterprise charities, as well as social services, healthcare trusts, carers and further education.

Mark Cornell, Farm Co-manager at Prospects Trust, said: “The T4.75 is perfect for us because its colour-coded controls are so clear. The access, design and reliability made an excellent package.

“We’ve seen a lot of farms in the Fens turning to New Holland and that was very encouraging for us. The service from Ernest Doe has been second to none and we’re very pleased with how they’ve helped us.”

Paul Clark, Branch and Sales Manager at the Fulbourn branch of Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd, said: “We’re delighted to supply such a dependable and versatile tractor to help the Prospects Trust continue its amazing work.

“We strongly support the principle of giving more people training and experience in agriculture so we’re very proud to continue our links with Snakehall Farm and its team.”

The dealership also helped support the Prospects Trust when it sponsored two wheelbarrows recently in the fundraising Big Push wheelbarrow race, complete with scarecrow passengers!