Tag Archives: 2014

Presentation Night 2014

De-Courcey Vintage Presentation Night 159

On Saturday the 15th of November De Courcey Classic and Vintage Club held a presentation night to distribute funds raised at the 2014 Harvest Working day on the farm of Jim and Eileen O’Regan at Coolyrahilly, Barrel’s Cross, Kinsale in County Cork. This year the Club had €28,500 to distribute to various groups.

The main beneficiary were The Friends of Marymount Hospice who received €12,000. Ballinadee and Ballinspittle National Schools both received €5,500 and Courcey Rovers underage GAA teams received €5,500. This will bring the total amount donated by the club in the last five years to over €67,000.

The many thousands who attended the Harvest event on the August Bank Holiday were not disappointed as the club committee and sponsors Mc&S Agrisales Ltd and New Holland, had prepared a very special day indeed.

The day started early with ploughs, harrows and tilling at midday followed by the teams of horses mowing, binding and drawing sheaves in the traditional harvest section. The vintage Claas, M.F’s Dronningberg, and Dania harvesters then started their own display.

The official opening was then performed by Mr Andrew Watson C.E.O. of New Holland UK and Ireland, who had travelled to Ireland especially for the event.

A new attraction this year was a huge ploughing area. Donal McCarthy’s team of Clydesdale horses were joined by a range of Ford and New Holland tractors from Keith Byran’s 1918 model F, to Jim O’Regan’s 2014 T7.260, to give an unforgettable display of ploughing. The final sequence in the ploughing area was a spectacular line up of the 24 participants in a single line spanning 96 years of progress.

The Claeys, Claysons and New Holland combines were aligned for a unique formation harvesting display of 16 combines with Kinsale Harbour and the sea in the distance behind them. The earliest machine on site was a 1963 Claeys M103 owned by Michael Ryan, Ballinscarthy and the most modern was a 2014 New Holland CX6090 owned by Leonard Draper of Dunmanway. New Holland combines from each decade in between were present.

As all this activity was taking place visitors were able take a break in the picnic area at the food village which occupied a central location in the 35 Acre field. Delicious food was served all day by local West Cork food outlets and many people returned several times to try out the different wares. The De Courcey tea tent was an especially busy place with many exhibitors and visitors having a cuppa and catching up with acquaintances for a chat.

In tune with the harvest theme, there was an impressive display of various milling machines from horse operated threshing machines to engine and tractor driven mills. Raymond White from Ballinspittle was kept busy all day demonstrating how the hand operated kern stones produced flour from wheat.

A fine display of vintage cars, trucks and tractors was on site. The tractors were of course dominated by the blue of the Fords. Many early Fordsons were also present. New Holland had a full range of modern machines at the event and the merchandise shop did tremendous business out all day.

After the final harvesting displays completed the raffle was held. Prizes included three months use of a New Holland Tractor, a weekend break and a New Holland gift pack. Mr Andrew Watson was then called to cut a specially commissioned cake commemorating 50 years of tractor production at the Basildon UK plant.

De Courcey Classic and Vintage Club would like to thank the members, sponsors, landowner, local groups and individuals and the many people who contributed in all sorts of ways for their support in 2014.

The presentation night also marked the launch of the official Harvest Working Day DVD produced by Kevin O’Neill. The hour long DVD is available from Kevin Tel; 087 7752059 or kevinoneill@gmail.com.

Next year’s event is already being discussed. A new site on the farm of Paddy and Ann McCarthy close to Ballinadee Village has been selected. The club is looking forward to another successful Harvest day in 2015.

Harvest Day 2014 Event Report

The hard working team of the De Courcey Classic and Vintage club are just settling down and relaxing, after the excitement of yet another wonderful August Bank Holiday ‘Harvest Day’ at Barrel’s Cross, Kinsale.

Once again in 2014 crowds flocked to the farm of Jim and Eileen O’Regan at Coolyrahilly, Barrel’s Cross, Kinsale in County Cork. The many thousands who attended the event were not disappointed as the club committee and sponsors Mc & S Agri Sales Ltd, had prepared a very special day indeed. Of course with Mc & S on the team Courceys had to abandon their traditional red and white colours for the blue and yellow of Ford and New Holland.

The day started early with ploughs, harrows and tilling at midday followed by the teams of horses mowing, binding and drawing sheaves in the traditional harvest section. The vintage Claas, M.F’s Dronningberg, and Dania harvesters then started their own display.

A break in activity was called at 1PM for the opening ceremony. The crowd was addressed by John O’Neill (Club Chairman), Jim O’Regan (landowner) and John McCarthy of Mc&S. The official opening was then performed by Mr Andrew Watson C.E.O. of New Holland UK and Ireland, who had travelled to Ireland especially for the event.

Then it was down to work! A range of Ford and New Holland tractors from Keith Byran’s 1918 model F, to Jim O’Regan’s 2014 T7.260, gave an unforgettable display of ploughing. Donal McCarthy’s team of Clydesdale horses were joined by Fordson model F’s, N’s, Ford Nans, Majors and Dextas with a mixture of trailer and hydraulic ploughs. The thousand series up to the modern T6’s and T7’s with their huge reversible were all represented. There was plenty for the tractor enthusiast to enjoy and lots of cameras were out to capture the occasion. The final sequence in the ploughing area was a spectacular line up of the 24 participants in a single line spanning 96 years of progress.

With the ploughing out of the way, the Claeys, Claysons and New Holland combines took up position for a unique formation harvesting display of 16 combines with Kinsale Harbour and the sea in the distance behind them. The earliest machine on site was a 1963 Claeys M103 owned by Michael Ryan, Ballinscarthy and the most modern was a 2014 New Holland CX6090 owned by Leonard Draper of Dunmanway. New Holland combines from each decade in between were present.

As all this activity was taking place visitors were able take a break in the picnic area at the food village which occupied a central location in the 35 Acre field. Delicious food was served all day by local West Cork food outlets and many people returned several times to try out the different wares. The De Courcey tea tent was an especially busy place with many exhibitors and visitors having a cuppa and catching up with acquaintances for a chat.

In tune with the harvest theme, there was an impressive display of various milling machines from horse operated threshing machines to engine and tractor driven mills. Raymond White from Ballinspittle was kept busy all day demonstrating how the hand operated kern stones produced flour from wheat.

A fine display of vintage cars, trucks and tractors was on site. The tractors were of course dominated by the blue of the Fords. Many early Fordsons were also present. New Holland had a full range of modern machines at the event and the merchandise shop did tremendous business out all day.

After the final harvesting displays completed the raffle was held. Prizes included three months use of a New Holland Tractor, a weekend break and a New Holland gift pack. Mr Andrew Watson was then called to cut a specially commissioned cake commemorating 50 years of tractor production at the Basildon UK plant.

De Courcey Classic and Vintage Club would like to thank the members, sponsors, landowner, local groups and individuals and the many people who contributed in all sorts of ways for their support in 2014.

The proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to Marymount Hospice, Ballinspittle and Ballinadee primary schools and to Courcey Rovers GAA underage teams.

Layout & Timetable

2014_layout

Timetable

12:00 Arena 5: Cutting sect, horse mowing machines, horse reaper and binder, threshing with horses, cutting and binding by hand, tillage

12:30 Arena No 4: Other Harvesting

13:00 Opening Ceremony

14:15 Arena 1 Ploughing

14:15 Arena 5 Threshing & Milling

14:45 Arena 2 New Holland Harvesting

16:30 Raffle/Birthday cake ceremony

17:00 Arena 3 Grand Finale

*Times Subject to change

New Holland at Harvest Day 2014

De Courcey Classic and Vintage Club are delighted to have New Holland as a partner in this year’s Harvest Working day at Barrell’s Cross, Kinsale, Co. Cork. The Club is looking forward with anticipation to the various Ford and New Holland models that will be on show at Barrell’s Cross on Mon 4th August.

Recently the Club committee met with Gordon and Lorraine Sullivan from MC and S Agrisales Ltd, to discuss the upcoming event. Pictured at this meeting alongside a New Holland T7.200 was a Fordson N belonging to Keith Bryan of Waterfall. This tractor with the Cork stamp on the fuel tank was built in the Ford plant at the Marina in 1929.

IMG_1112

Tractor production in Europe began at the Ford plant in Cork in 1919 when the Model N was produced there. When tractor manufacture moved to Dagenham in the U.K. in the 1930’s, so many of the Irish workers also made the move that Dagenham became known as “Little Cork”. In 1964 the tractor production moved to a modern plant in Basildon to begin assembly of the new generation of 1000 series Fords. The plant became New Holland in the 1990’s. Fifty years on from 1964 Ford and New Holland return to Cork where it all began.

In Ireland, New Holland are celebrating the 50 years of production in Basildon by sponsoring the De Courcey Harvest working day 2014. The Harvest working day will showcase modern and Classic Combine Harvesters starting back at the MZ89 model through the Clayes 103, the Clayson 135 , Sperry/ New Holland models of the 60’s and 70’s to the 80 Series the TX32 and 34, the 60 , 700, 800 and 8000 Series, with the CX8090 Model representing the current range.

As in previous years at De Courcey’s all of these machines will be seen operating in the harvesting area.

As well as combines a full range of tractors dating from the Ford plant in Cork, The Fordsons from Dagenhan, The 1000 series, the silver jubilee 7810’s up to this year’s golden jubilee T6 and T7 models manufactured in Basildon will all be on show.

Currently undergoing restoration is a 1919 Ford model F. This tractor rolled off the production line in Cork during the first months of operation and will hopefully be ready for display at the event.

In addition a special attraction will celebrate the evolution of ploughing from the horse drawn era through each decade to the latest New Holland machines. Visitors will see horses ploughing, Ford model F’s and N’s, Fordson 27N “High Nellys”, Fordson Majors and Dextas, 1000 series , 600 Series, 10 Series , 40, 60 and 70 Series and the TM T7000 models. Each tractor will be ploughing with a plough appropriate to the year from ferguson system ploughs to trailed ploughs up to modern reversible equipment.

Other attractions on the day will include horse drawn mowing machines, reaper and binder, Steam threshing, Hand milling of corn, static display of vintage cars, tractors, motorbikes and engines. There will also be music and dancing and plenty of good food.

Funds raised from the event will be donated to Marymount Hospice, Ballinadee and Ballinspittle primary schools and Courcey Rovers underage GAA teams.