Christmas tractor run raises thousands for charity

From Santas on sleighs to candy canes on John Deeres, more than 200 decorated tractors have paraded through the Aire Valley to raise money for charity.

Rudolph's Run began at Otley auction market on Sunday, before heading through Ilkley and ending in Skipton.

Organised by the Lothersdale Agricultural Discussion Group, the tractor run raised nearly £30,000 for the Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Organiser Ben Walker, who runs Copy Hill Farm in Keighley, said the event was booked up three weeks ago and they had to turn some tractor drivers away: "All the towns and villages we go through were absolutely rammed. It was unreal."

"It's become a Christmas tradition for people," he explained.

"We started it five years ago after we heard about one in Liverpool and decided to start an Aire Valley one six weeks later."

Mr Walker said he chose a candy cane theme for his tractor this year.

"I spend longer decorating that tractor than I do decorating my house," he laughed.

Mr Walker said the group had chosen to fundraise for Yorkshire Air Ambulance because its work in remote places appealed to farmers.

He added: "The public donations go to Manorlands because when we did the first one we had just lost my father-in-law at Manorlands and everyone has a link to them."

Mr Walker thanked "the army of stewards and street collectors" who volunteered their time to collect cash along the route, filling 120 buckets with donations.

The run had become one his favourite events of the festive period, he said.

"It was crazy, mind-blowing. I can't get over it, it was something else. I'm 100% still on a high," he said on Monday.

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