Author: Charlotte Vowden
From ploughing fields to fundraising: this restored fifties Fordson is doing its bit to make life a little rosier for dementia patients and their families.
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Life for Anna Griffiths hasn’t always felt this rosy. Losing two of her grandparents to dementia meant that in effect, she lost them twice. The first passing was gradual, a steady decline, as their minds became muddled and their memories, one by one, were misplaced. “It’s not easy to see,” says Anna, who is wearing a pair of reflective sunglasses. I can’t help but wonder if she’s welling up. “My nan used to be the matriarch of the family, and then… dementia.”
We’re sat on a set of portable timber steps, that’s normally used for mounting horses, on Anna’s smallholding in rural Northamptonshire. It’s a sanctuary, a space where she keeps animals, a place where she comes to recharge and reflect. The stable behind us is occupied by several, rather chatty, sheep; we giggle as they try to join our conversation. Daisy, is an especially communicative member of the flock. The countryside, Anna tells me, is where her heart is at its happiest. “I’ve always loved vintage tractors, but when I bought an absolute rust bucket that should have gone to scrap, my partner was like, what have you done?”
A Facebook Marketplace find, the 1957 Fordson Dexta she purchased wasn’t wearing its years very well. “We literally had to take it apart and put it back together again,” she says, “it’d had a rough life.” We, included her partner, Andrew, and his octogenarian grandfather, Vic, who “knows everything.” Working on the restoration during evenings and at weekends it took them nine months to complete, inclusive of an engine rebuild. “She looks pretty and she works,” Anna says, “but it took a lot of money, a lot of swear words, and a lot of tantrums to get here.”
Replacing the tin bodywork, Anna explains, was a job she did on her own, but sorting the electrics was a challenge that tested them all. “I loved it,” she says of the process, “I couldn’t have asked for a better team. When you want the same thing, when something goes wrong you figure it out together. To see what we’ve achieved together, that’s the best feeling.”
Painted a joyfully unsubtle shade of pink, Anna’s tractor pops in such a green and pleasant bucolic setting. The choice of colour was a tactic to draw attention; her intention was to take the tractor to events and raise money for Dementia UK, and in the two years since its revival, Anna’s “Little Pink Fordson” has raised over £11,000. Her next milestone is fifteen.
“Dementia is horrible, it’s debilitating, it literally tears families apart,” says Anna, a former care worker who supported end-of-life dementia patients during the pandemic. “Dementia UK are there for every member of the family, not just the individual that’s struggling with dementia,” she explains. “I had to do something.”
On the day of Anna’s first fundraising event – a road run for vintage tractors – her grandmother passed away. Anna’s resolve to take part wavered, but encouragement from her partner Andrew gave her the willpower to carry on. “I was crying my eyes out all the way,” she says, with a slight wobble in her voice. “My nan loved my pink tractor because Standard Fordsons helped win the war, [they played a vital role in both the farming effort and the military], but young kids are smitten with it too, especially the girls.” As a spanners-on tractor girl and philanthropist, it’s no wonder Anna has become a bit of role model. “I hope so, if they see a girl can do it, they’ll think I can do it.”
During the summer, Anna and the Little Pink Fordson attend fairs, festivals and show grounds in Northamptonshire, as well as further afield. “There have been times when I’ve travelled for hours and only collected £20, but I’ll still shout about it from the rooftops because twenty quid is still twenty quid!” In the winter, Anna uses her initiative. Last year, she raised over £700 collecting Christmas trees in the local community.
Kindness and generosity is a common thread that runs through this story. To help keep the Little Pink Fordsons’ wheels turning, businesses often donate components and parts, while kindred spirits, and celebrities of the farming world, Kaleb, Alan and Gerald of Clarkson’s Farm have supported Anna and the Little Pink Fordson at various events. “Gerald stole my tractor and drove it round and round an arena,” Anna laughs, “when he came off he gave me a massive list of things that I need to repair.” There is, she sighs, always something to do.
“You can have a go if you’d like,” Anna offers. Perhaps my heavily-pink outfit is the giveaway I’d been hoping to hop on. Any quirks I should be aware of? I ask. “She’s stubborn,” laughs Anna, “some days she’ll want to start straight away, some days not.” True to her reputation, the Little Pink Fordson splutters as she fires up. Will today be one of those days? “Usually, when she’s got a crowd to please she’ll sort herself out.” Seconds later, I’m climbing aboard. “She’s a happy-go-lucky little tractor,” Anna shouts. It’s true, I’m beaming from ear-to-ear. Whether it was fated, or just good fortune, being found by Anna changed the course of this vintage tractors life, but their impact on the lives of others is even more profound. At a time when we need it the most, this tale of restoration, purpose and empathy can serve as a lesson to us all.
Have you restored a tractor before? We would love to hear from you at hdc@hagerty.co.uk