Thousands attend Ford 100 event in Ballinascarthy

Now in its eighth year, the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association’s annual fundraising harvest event attracted thousands on Sunday afternoon to the Ford family ancestral home at Crohane, Ballinascarthy. Sponsored by Ford as part of the events to mark the centenary of Henry Ford opening his company’s first European factory in Cork in 1917, it featured a huge array of Ford vehicles from across the decades – the Model T to the latest Mustang – plus of course many of the Fordson tractors that were built at the Marina.   Apart from the vintage tractors of all makes and models, and vintage farm machinery, there was ploughing, corn cutting and threshing, silage and potato harvesting, and even helicopter rides. There was a children’s play area, plenty of food from West Cork producers to sample, country and Irish music and much more. Patrons were also able to view the ancestral homestead from where Henry Ford’s father and his family emigrated to the US in 1847 at the height of the Great Famine. Don Coakley, chairperson of West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association, said: ‘We are indebted to Vivian Buttimer and the Ford-Buttimer family for hosting the event on the Ford family farm. In this centenary year of Ford in Ireland, we are also hugely grateful to the team at Henry Ford and Son Ltd for their generous support of the event.’ West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association’s chosen charities to benefit from the proceeds from this year’s event are Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, the Alzheimer’s Unit at Clonakilty Hospital, Cancer Connect and West Cork Rapid Response.