Still scheduled to take place despite Met. Office weather warnings.

With a stop along the way in the centre of the village at the Masons Arms, up to 30 tractors, of all shapes, sizes and vintages, will be taking part in a Tractor Tinsel Run on Saturday December 7th. Now in its second year, this festive parade will start gathering from 1 p.m. at F. Tate & Sons Garden Centre on Studley Road in Ripon, (spectators welcome) ready to depart at 3 p.m., arriving outside the Masons at approximately 3.50 p.m. It will be made very welcome.

Bedecked with seasonal cheer, this sparkly convoy of tractors will come into the village at about 3.45 p.m. along Knaresborough Road, turning into St Johns Road, past the Masons Arms and then into Boroughbridge Road. It will then trundle along to Roecliffe, onto Boroughbridge, before turning right for Langthorpe and Skelton-on Ure. It will end its journey in Ripon at approximately 6.15 p.m.- 6.30 p.m. with a couple of loops around the Market Square, before parking up in the Market Place.

Accompanying the tractors. through every turn of the wheels, will be volunteers, rattling buckets for donations for Yorkshire Cancer Research. On its inaugural run last year, in which 20 tractors participated, the event raised £1640; in 2024 the organisers are aiming for £2000. Every tractor that enters pays an admission fee. Morrisons, whose stores in Ripon and Boroughbridge are stops along the 21 mile route, has agreed not only to judge the tractors, but also donate a prize to the one it considers to be the "Best Dressed".

The event is organised by the Ripon Tinsel Tractor Group, vintage tractor enthusiasts, a sub-committee of the West Yorkshire Group of the National Vintage Track and Engine Club, an organisation for those interested in agricultural tractors, stationary engines and associated farm machinery. Click for its website.

The organisers are extremely grateful to all the help and support given by F. Tate & Sons to facilitate the event. Enquiries to register, on a first come first served basis, can be made at the garden centre.

Wrap up warm, head out onto the village streets and give a friendly wave and big cheer as the tractors go past.