The Blackwater Valley Vintage Group could have hardly asked for a better day as the spring sunshine blessed its first event of 2025 with a warmth and freshness that put a full stop to a long and miserable winter.

The event was based at Aubane Community Centre in north Cork and the run took in 19km of the surrounding countryside with around 40-50 tractors of 30 years or more in age taking part.

As is often the case, there were one or two machines that stood out, not always because of their rarity but because of the story attached to their past.

One such was a nicely restored Massey Ferguson 165 which was one of the first to arrive on site.

The owner is now Sean Kelleher, who bought it from his father, Jerry, who had worked it for around 40 years on the family farm.

Jerry was working as an electrician at Cadbury's Rathmore facility when he first came across the tractor, which at the time was fitted with a front-end loader and was being used by a building contractor on the site.

As Jerry pointed out, it didn't get the best treatment from the builders, so an engine rebuild was required before it settled into farm life as a working machine - and instructional tool as all of Jerry's family learned to drive on it.

Another tractor of note was a Universal 445 from 1976 which was brought along by Dan Desmond of Co. Kerry, who had known the tractor for many years before he acquired it.

Soviet-era tractors are often scoffed at for poor build quality and reliability, but many of the countries within the communist bloc retained excellent engineering skills and this tractor is proof that such stories were often unfounded.

Based upon Fiat engine design and originally supplied by Cremins of Co. Cork, the dealers had fitted a Duncan cab before sale and this example retains it as an original item.

In addition to the four-speed box with a high and low range, the tractor has a creeper gear which, as Dan explained, gives the driver time to make a pot of tea as it crawls from one end of the yard to the other.

There was a good selection of other tractors available at the Blackwater run with Ford being very well represented but there was a brace of John Deere's that caught the eye while a magnificent Ford TW35 appeared almost as a spaceship among its smaller brethren.