A farmer has been given the present of a lifetime for his 80th birthday when his nephews spent more than a year restoring a vintage tractor.
Thomas and Sean McKelvey from Mounthall, Killygordon knew how much their uncle John Patrick McKelvey had wanted a David Brown 30D tractor.
Having owned numerous tractors over his lifetime, this was the machine that he had always set his heart on but never got around to owning one.
With his 80th birthday approaching, the brothers hatched a plan to locate such a rare tractor.
They eventually found one at Cheffin’s Auction in Cambridge in England and had it shipped back to Donegal last year.
However, Sean said the biggest problem was not restoring the tractor but keeping it secret from John Patrick.
“He would always be around the yard and the shed seeing what is happening so we had to move it to a different location.
Thomas and Sean McKelvey with John Patrick McKelvey from Killygordon who got the surprise gift of a fully restroed 1955 David Browne 30 D at his 80th birthday party in Biddy Friels on Friday night last. Photo Clive Wasson
“It’s amazing that he didn’t get a glimpse of it or find out what we were up to,” said Sean.
Sean and his brother Thomas spent the next year lovingly restoring the machine using all its original parts.
But at the last minute, the men faced an even bigger obstacle.
Sean arranged to have more than 150 family and friends at an 80th birthday celebration for John Patrick at Biddy Friel’s Bar in Drumoghill.
But as they tried to move the tractor into the lounge they discovered the machine wouldn’t fit in.
So owner Tony Morning decided that nothing would do but to take the doors of the bar and squeeze the amazing birthday present in the door.
Sean paid tribute to Tony and his staff saying “Most people would have just parked it in the street but Tony went the extra mile and took the doors off the bar to surprise John Patrick.
“We put a cover over it and I just can’t describe John Patrick’s reaction to it. He was just speechless and very emotional. We were all very emotional and I’m even emotional now speaking about it.”
Sean said the party was a huge success and John Patrick, who still rises at 7.30am each day to do a full day’s work, is delighted with his present.
“He is such a lovely man and we just wanted to do something special for him. It was a pity that all his friends couldn’t be there but we invited the families of all those friends who had passed on. IT was such a special night,” he added.
Tags: