Staffordshire Young Farmers Clubs held a spring Tractor Run on Sunday 27th March, in memory of Mr John Meakin. Emily and Isobelle Meakin, John’s daughters who were both past members of Chase Young Farmers approached Staffordshire YFC to help them honour their dad’s memory, as he sadly passed away in March 2021 following a short and aggressive battle with cancer.
John loved tractor runs and ploughing matches from a very young age and during this time as a member of Staffordshire YFC, he loved to attend these kinds of events as well as always getting stuck in at the County Show, particularly with the YFC Show Floats Competition. The JW Meakin Tractor Run, which left Far Coley Farm on Sunday, took 42 tractors through the beautiful Staffordshire countryside passing through Little Haywood, Great Haywood, Hixon, Lea Heath, Kingstone, Admaston and Wolseley Bridges. The event saw many of John’s family and friends turn out for bacon baps and to wave the tractors off and then enjoy celebrating his life afterwards a hog roast. All meat was kindly donated by T G Sargeant and Sons and Paul Sargeant of Bramshall.
Including all the donations, a raffle and tractor entry fees, the total funds raised to date is £1896 which will be equally split between Staffordshire YFC and Katharine House Hospice, who looked after John during his illness. Emily and Isobelle Meakin said “We are completely overwhelmed by the support for the Inaugural J W Meakin Tractor Run. To have over 40 tractors was awesome, and a sight to behold when they left the farm. It really felt like a celebration of our dad’s life and meant so much to us as we couldn’t give him the send-off, he deserved at his funeral due to COVID. Raising money for Katharine House Hospice and Staffordshire Young Farmers was paramount to us. Dad was a vibrant member of Staffordshire Young Farmers all of his life, from the early raucous days, then later sharing his knowledge with the new generations. The tractor run epitomises Dad’s life for us, with tractor’s dating back to the 1940’s, and all through the years, showing history and tradition all the way through to tractors built in 2022. It shows agriculture from every era, and Dad would have loved to see the variety and prestige that the tractors showcased. This event could not have happened without the help and organisation of the Staffordshire Young Farmers, who are such a dedicated committed group of agriculture enthusiasts. We are truly touched how well the run went and everyone’s support.”
Leading the tractor run behind the safety car, Rybrook Landrover, Stoke loaned one of their community cars, a Landrover Defender 90 they had built at the dealership, part of their Heritage Fleet, which also created a lot of interest along the route. Julia Taylor, County Organiser for Staffordshire YFC said “When Emily and Isobelle approached us at Staffordshire YFC to organise the event with them, we were grateful for the opportunity to raise funds for ourselves and such a worthy cause as Katharine House Hospice. It has been a pleasure to help family remember John in such a special way and everyone who helped out, including the YFC team of stewards and bucket collectors really enjoyed the day.”
If anyone would still like to donate, there is a GoFundMe page which will remain open until the presentation for half of the monies raised is made to Katharine House Hospice at the Staffordshire YFC Pre Show Reception on 24th May. The link for this is https://gofund.me/1a8a6dab.
To view all the photos from the day, which were taken by Sally Elkin of Rocester Camera Club, please click here.
