Blue Force working events
Blue Force will be hosting two big working events in September 2012 for all to enjoy.As part of the ongoing commitment to its members and offering something for them to enjoy as part of a growing Club, Blue Force can confirm two big and exciting working days to be held in September 2012.
Autumn Working Weekend 2012
The first event will be held over the weekend of 8th and 9th September in conjunction with the Hannington Vintage Tractor Club at Brixworth, Northampton. A fun packed weekend will see large areas set aside for ploughing and cultivating. There will also be numerous other farming activities as well as static tractor and stationary engine displays to enjoy.Also planned for the weekend will be many participating activities and competitions to make this a different and extremely enjoyable weekend for all to enjoy.
Contact Roger Barwick 07703 217868 or Michael Alcock 07946 568052.
Blue Force Conversions Day
The second event is to be held over the weekend of 29th and 30th September in the Lincolnshire area and is to be run on similar lines to David Leech’s famous ‘Roadless 90'.This particular event will see a plough practice day and road run on the Saturday, while Sunday will be the main day where ploughing will be the order of the day. All conversions based on Fordson, Ford and New Holland tractors from wheeled through to tracked, whether for work or as part of an impressive static line up.
The Blue Force Conversions Day will be a spectacle of the likes not seen before.
What would be good to see is as many County, Doe, Muir-Hill, Roadless and the not so common conversions also be present in one place at one time, makes such as J J Thomas, James Jones, Bray, Chaseside, Northrop, Matbro, Mailam, Rotoped, KFD, Shire, Whitlock and many other rare conversions. As owners might not want to work these rare tractors, this is where a good static display would be very impressive indeed.
For further details of Blue Force Conversions Day contact David Leech on 01526 320797 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
What a Year 2011 has been.
As you will be aware Blue Force was established on Saturday April 9th 2011 for all enthusiast of Fordson, Ford, New Holland & Derivative tractors as well as many vans and light commercials bearing such famous names as Thames and Thames Trader.The fledgling Club has grown beyond all expectations and is way ahead of where the Committee thought they would be at after 12 months. That is down to all the dedicated enthusiasts who have supported Blue Force. The Club’s Heritage magazine has been a great hit, merchandising has sold well and the website has been well viewed.
2012 is going to be a very busy year for everyone involved with Blue Force, so do please help and support your Club, look at the diary pages on the website to see where we will be at during the year and if you want to know more please feel free to e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone 07826 650 424.
Heritage magazine
If you are out and about and see tractors working in the fields, at working events, road runs or shows, please take a few pictures and write a small report and submit it for inclusion to your Club magazine, the Editor would be very appreciative of receiving material for the magazine. – email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show
What a show!
The 9th Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show maintained its tradition of breaking records and growing in popularity year-on-year. Members of the public were queuing well before opening time on both days of the show.The 2011 show saw record entries in the Brown & Co. Vintage Auction (Saturday) and the largest number of trade stands since the show started in 2003.
The annual Vintage Auction attracted a great deal of interest with over 1,000 buyers. Top lot of the day was a Ford 7600 that went for £5,400 with a Ford 9N in need of cosmetic attention fetching £1,400
Among the 40 trophy winners was 17 year-old Matthew Bisp who took home The Patrick Edwards Ltd Trophy for the ‘Best tractor restored by a person under 25’ (1980 Ford 1200). Matthew, a Blue Force member and an electronics student at Bourneville College spent 18 months restoring the Ford that had been in a fairly dilapidated state when he bought it.
Organisers of the show were so impressed with the Blue Force stand that they presented a new ‘Best Overall Stand’ award to the club, created for tractor enthusiasts earlier this year. It already has over 600 members.
Adrian Johnston, Chief Executive of the Newark & Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society, summed up this year’s show: “Once again, we have been delighted by the response to the show and most grateful to exhibitors who have travelled from all corners of the country to take part. Our congratulations go to all the prize winners and a big ‘thank you’ to all our sponsors and supporters.
The 2012 Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show takes place on 10 and 11 November when Perkins Derivatives will be the Feature Tractors.
2011 National Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show Trophy WinnersBlue Force winners.
The Patrick Edwards Ltd Trophy – Best tractor restored by a person under 25 Matthew Bisp, West Midlands – 1980 Ford 1200 Catalogue: BFM 1154 (P26)
N&NAS Award – Best Ford & Fordson Clive Sanson, Suffolk – 1989 Ford 4610 Series III Catalogue: BFM 1112 (P25)
The Yarwood Hardstaff Cup – Best Fordson Derivative George Yarwood, Cheshire – 1978 78 Roadless Ploughmaster Catalogue: GSH 51 (P16)
N&NAS Award - Best Stand in Show Blue Force
News: First Donation
When Blue Force said it would help various charities during the coming months, it certainly kept to its word.After the Blue Force Launch on 9th April 2011, the monies raised from donations, the raffle draw along with the tea and coffee money amounted to a splendid £499.71.
As this was the first Blue Force event no one quite knew what to expect. There was no gate fee; the day was free to all and the response was outstanding.
Host of the event Ben Craig and the Craig family presented a cheque for £499.71 to their chosen charity, the Dove Cottage Day Hospice. Dove Cottage Day Hospice is an independent organisation offering high quality palliative day care to those people living in NE Leicestershire, Rutland and SE Nottinghamshire, as well as offering vital respite to the main carer. Their aim is to provide the best possible standard of physical, emotional, social and spiritual support for those living with a life-threatening condition.
They offer support to those living with a diagnosis of cancer and those coping with a range of other progressive illnesses.
The Blue Force team would like to thank Ben Craig, the Craig family and The Vale of Belvoir Machinery Group for all their valuable help and time in hosting the Blue Force launch.
News: 94 Not Out
What must be described as the greatest launch of any tractor club in recent years was the Blue Force Launch held on 9th April. With people and tractors arriving from many parts of the UK; an impressive display of 94 exhibits greeted a crowd of more than 300 visitors.
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Please click thumbnails to see larger images
94 exhibits – four of which were Ford lorries from the 1940s and 50s, two 5cwt light delivery vans from the same era and 88 tractors which included Fordson, Ford, New Holland, Chaseside, County, Doe, Jeweltrac, Muir-Hill and Roadless were amongst the great names forming a line up from an early 1920s Fordson Model F to the latest offerings from New Holland, a T7.210, and virtually every tractor was different, no long lines of Fordson Majors or 1000 Series, each tractor was unique and different in so many ways.
A full clear Blue sky and lines of Blue tractors all went to making the Blue Force Launch such a successful and memorable affair. After four months of planning and putting everything in place from seeking permission to using the Fordson wheat sheaf logo to having the Blue Force logo designed, to establishing a website, publishing a quality full colour magazine and making sure that when the new group known as ‘Friends of Fordson, Ford, New Holland & Derivatives’ was ready to be launched, virtually every possibility was covered.
As many said on the day, well it looks like Blue Force is now official and here to stay. The motto of ‘Run by Members for Members’ certainly hit the correct chord as so many of the existing members, and even those new members who signed up on the day, helped with parking the cars, welcoming visitors, offering teas and coffees through to selling raffle tickets and manning the Blue Force merchandising stand, making it a truly Club affair with everyone feeling glad to be part of such a fast growing new Club dedicated to such a famous heritage spanning from 1917 through to 2011.
Blue Force Technical Officer Peter Andrews said ‘I would like to thank everyone for supporting the Launch, Blue Force is a friendly Club and wherever we go throughout 2011 and beyond people will be assured of a warm welcome. We are a happy yet serious club with one aim in mind and that is to look after the members and help promote and preserve the Fordson, Ford, New Holland, County Doe, Roadless and many other derivative names for future generations to enjoy, while at the same time enjoying our hobby at a leisurely pace.’
The Blue Force Club was officially launched after Club Chairman Philip Gibson gave his introductory speech by thanking every person who either bought along a tractor or supported the day to firmly establish Blue Force and all those who helped behind the scenes in so many ways before handing over to Mark Osborne.
At 1.09 pm on Saturday 9th April, 2011 Mark, who runs County Tractor Spares Ltd, announced that Blue Force – Friends of Fordson, Ford, New Holland & Derivatives was officially a tractor club and wished everyone much success.
