THE village was buzzing with excitement as 75 tractors trundled along the course through Bradworthy for the annual fundraising tractor run.

On Sunday, August 13, Bradworthy Young Farmers’ Club (YFC) held their annual charity tractor run, this year raising money for local charity “Jays AIM’, who raise awareness of cardiac conditions and help fund defibrillators in the area.

Chairman of Bradworthy YFC Dan Heard said: “This year we saw 75 tractors lined up in Bradworthy square on the Sunday morning ready to drive the 26 mile route that we had planned along roads and through fields to get to the end destination at a member;s farm near Kilkhampton, where we had a BBQ and a proper salad spread and desserts awaiting their arrival!

“We also had a tractor challenge after lunch for the people who were on the tractor run, where we had to reverse a roller around some cones and tight corners on a old tractor, seeing who could do it the quickest without hitting anything.

“This proved difficult for a few of the younger drivers but saw some of the veterans reverse it like a breeze! In the evening we put on a live band and a bar back at the same shed we were at in the afternoon. We had the band ‘Joy Machine’ entertain us for a couple of hours in the evening which got a good atmosphere going in the shed.

“After a lovely sunny day for the run, the heavens did open for the afternoon and evening, but that didn’t stop 175 people from attending our evening do and supporting us!

“We raised £2,374 for Jays AIM, so thank you to everyone that supported us, to the young farmer members for helping during the day and also to all the landowners for letting us across your land for the run!”

In the next few weeks Bradworthy YFC are hoping to arrange a CPR and defibrillator training evening through Jays AIM for members to attend.

Dan added: “Hopefully we’ll never need to use this, but it’ll be good to learn, especially seeing as we live in such a rural area.”