http://www.FarmCollector.com March 2016 13
567I really love the fact that there is room
for people of all ages and income levels
in this hobby of ours, and all are equal-ly important. To me, the person who is
willing to restore a £30 ($45) seed drill
made by a long-forgotten company is just as crucial to the preservation of our
heritage as the person willing to shell out £35,000 ($53,000) at auction for a
rare vintage tractor.
Hobbies and happiness
Last week I spoke to Paul Jones, who
was featured in the September 2014 issue of Farm Collector, along with his
collection of vintage farm implements.
Paul has a passion for farm implements, in particular horse-drawn seed drills.
Recently he bought a few more artifacts to
add to his collection, including a seed drill built by the Welsh firm John Williams &
Son of Rhuddlan. There are many long-since defunct but still very well-known
British firms who produced horse-drawn
implements and barn machines, but Paul is most interested in the firms that
operated in this part of Wales, the treasures
that are right under our feet, yet so often overlooked.
Paul gains huge satisfaction from the
simple pleasure of taking a rusty old im-plement, and with just elbow grease and
patience, resurrecting the sorry old relic, so that it is almost as good as new. Just
knowing that, with a little bit of effort,
one has preserved an artifact for perhaps
another 50 years is a great feeling in itself.
Even when restored, many of these old implements aren’t worth a great deal of
money, but I like to think that the best of
us in this hobby do it for love, and not for money.
Talking of money, studies suggest that
extra wealth doesn’t actually make a huge difference to our happiness levels. Once
we have enough to comfortably house and feed ourselves, having more money,
even a lot more money, doesn’t make us
significantly happier. To enjoy happiness, it seems that we must find some way of
enhancing our own sense of well-being. It
is important to have a sense of purpose in your life, enjoy good friendships and have
an interest, a job or pastime that engages
your mind and gives you pleasure. That interest, hobby or pastime will also
help keep you young and healthy. We all
know anything are extremely dull company, and that people who have no interest in
we also know that being actively engaged in projects helps keep us fit and active, both
physically and mentally. I know of many1.purchases was this seed drill built One of Paul Jones’ recent
by John Williams & Son, possibly as
early as 1890.
2.recently added to his collection: Another implement Paul
a beet lifter built by Bedford
Plough & Engineering Co. Ltd., Ampthill Road, Bedford, England.
The company’s 1940 catalogue describes this implement as
“a strongly constructed lifter
embodying several features and advantages. It will effectually lift
beets, parsnips, carrots, turnips,
chicory, Brussels stalks etc., and also subsoil. The lifter raises the
beet without damage, and is light
draught for two horses.”- hand-driven winnower from Paul recently bought this
local collector Aneurin Hughes.
The nameplate says “T. Jones, Llanrwst.” Paul is unsure as to
whether that is the maker’s name or the dealer’s name. Researching
the history of long-lost makers and
dealers is all part of the fun of this hobby. - Paul’s collection include these Two more recent additions to
implements: at left, a potato lifter/ridging plough made by Howards
of Bedford; at right, a horse-drawn
hoe, made by Mealors of Neston. These implements and one other
were bought from Emrys Owens, a
collector and good friend of Paul’s. At 82, Emrys is no longer able to
take the implements to shows. - Two old pals, Sam Evans and
Tryweryn Evans, enjoying their vintage machinery hobby last year.
Sam (on the binder) has died since
this photo was taken. He was 92 at the time of his death, but remained
hugely active with a wide circle of like-minded friends up to the time
of his death. - Pete Roberts, another person
who finds ploughing to be extremely therapeutic, enjoys
putting his Fordson Model N
through its paces. - This hobby of ours needn’t
be expensive. You can have a lot of fun with just one old tractor,
as demonstrated here by young collector Gareth Roberts with his
much-loved diesel Ferguson.