Digging deep to plough in the national championships

When Danny Packenham climbed into the cab of his 1934 Fordson tractor on Tuesday, to compete in the vintage section of the National Ploughing Championships, it wasn’t winning that was on his mind, but an old friend.
Danny had let his passion for ploughing drift in recent years, but has approached competitions with a renewed zeal this year after hooking up his latest plough up to his tractor. Married to Patricia, with whom he has six young kids and working with Flood Precast in Oldcastle as a lorry driver and pre-cast floor and stairs fitter, he struggles to find time. Confirming the point our interview takes place in a lay-by outside Ballinagh Church, where he can park his rig. Over the din of passing cars, the gently-spoken Fairtown Lower man speaks fondly of his pal Jimmy Evans.
“He enticed me to get into the vintage ploughing,” recalls Danny.
Back in 2001 the Foot and Mouth scare led to the cancellation of the All-Ireland Ploughing Championships, but undeterred, a group of vintage enthusiasts, including Danny, organised a minor ploughing event in Kells.
“This guy came into the field with this Fordson and trail plough and I fell in love with it,” confesses Danny.
He got talking to the driver of the tractor, Jimmy Evans and their decade-long friendship began.
“That’s what got me into trail ploughing at a competitive level. I’d never have dreamt of competing in an all-Ireland. I was just turning up in a field that day when I saw Jimmy come in and set up and plough.”
Smitten by the Fordson’s “simplicity” of design Danny just had to have one. The following year, during a tractor run in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, Danny pounced when he came across a farmer selling a Fordson.

Mentor
He also invested in a plough, which Jimmy helped him to recondition and for the following decade the pair headed along together to 16 matches or so each year. Jimmy was something of a mentor for Danny, and the Ballynacargy man was well qualified to fulfil this role.
“It was more or less him that got me into the vintage trail ploughing competitively,” says Danny. “I wasn’t taking it too seriously; when I bought the Fordson and trail plough Jimmy showed me the ins and outs and got me interested in it.
“He’d won loads of nationals - he won the All Ireland twice in the vintage section. He represented Ireland and did very well in the 2008 World Championships in Wales.”
Danny’s done pretty well on the ploughing circuit; winning the Longford Ploughing in 2008 against “very strong competition” and being crowned Overall Cavan Champion in Gowna in 2009 amongst his most cherished titles.
Already a member of the Virginia Vintage Club, for Danny it was a natural progression into vintage ploughing. He’d also been a mechanic in his teenage years, and later worked as a machinery contractor. In preparation for this year’s championships, his father Hughie helped him fine tune his Fordson for which he’s grateful. Danny accepts, too, that some of the demands of driving a huge lorry for a living can translate into manoeuvring a plough.
“A trail plough is articulated, as well. It trails behind the tractor and if you have to reverse, it’s the same thing as reversing a trailer.”
On the downside the fact that he doesn’t own a farm minimises his opportunities to practise.
“The only practice I’ll get now is on Saturday and Sunday in Tullamore,” he says. “There’s a preview practise match before the All Ireland, and there’s a lot of competitors through the country comes to it.”

Same faces
After a decade of competing at the National Championships Danny skipped the last two events, but even so, there’s every chance he’ll know all of other vintage section finalists. At 46 Danny predicts he’ll be amongst the youngest competitors.
“It’s a dying trade,” he laments. “There’s a few guys popping up from Northern Ireland but that’s really all - you’re still looking at the same faces when you go to the All Ireland from when I started in 2003.”
He suspects cost inoculates against the vintage bug for many.
“It wouldn’t be the easiest outfit to move A to B; unless you had your own proper vehicle for the road - that’s probably one of the factors.”
Will you be the last of a generation doing this?
“I hope not,” he says.
“What I call modern ploughing, or conventional, would be a lot easier to get into but vintage is fun.”
He insisted he’d be “very relaxed” competing in the nationals.
“I wouldn’t have been out this two years so I wouldn’t be competitive. It’ll just be nice to plough - it’s a day out rather than take it too seriously.
“You’d be more nervous of doing it in your own county - somebody local watching you,” he says with a laugh.
Sadly, he’d be making this trip to the nationals alone. Jimmy passed away in 2010 at 78 and Danny says he thinks of him “all the time”.
“He gave me all the tips and I don’t want to lose it, so that’s why I’m sticking at the ploughing.”
Jimmy may not be there in person, but he’ll be remembered in a special way: “I actually have his plough now. I sold my trail plough to a friend of mine because Jimmy’s son wanted to sell me this one.
“It’s actually the plough that I liked when I seen him in Kells back in 2001 - so I have it now!
“It’s all Jimmy’s set-up. This is the first year I’m ploughing with it and I’m using it this year in the All Ireland so, hopefully, I go well.”

 

Cavan Contingent

County Cavan will have a seven strong team at this year’s National Ploughing Championships

3 Furrow Conventional Match Plough Class Andrew Tully, Cornaman
Junior Conventional Plough Class
Brian McNally, Croghan
Junior Conventional Plough Class
David Fannin, Cornagarrow
Loy Digging, Ladies
Kathleen O’Reilly, Rosehill Farm
Loy Digging, Senior
PJ McStay, Arnaghan
Loy Digging, Senior
Thomas Tierney, Gowna
Vintage 2 Furrow Trailer Plough Class
Danny Packenham, Fairtown Lower