'We have a back up plan if Santa's sleigh breakdown'

A vintage enthusiast from Moynalty who restored a rare model of tractor that lay in wreckage in a hedge for over three decades says his five year old daughter is hoping it will be a "back up plan" if santa's sleigh breaks down Christmas!

In what would usually take Teddy mechanic Teddy Cassidy (44) a whole year, he and his pal Paul Curran pimped up the red David Brown 880 in just over five weeks in order to have it ready to embark on a charity event for The Marie Keating Foundation in August.

Teddy completed the 300km journey from Moynalty to Killarney in Co, Kerry in ten hours accompanied by Paul Curran and JJ Cassidy who travelled by van behind him.

The Moynalty man put approximately 180 hours of work into restoring the limited edition model of tractor of which just 3000 were produced worldwide and only 40 exist today so he could take part in the run as a tribute to his mother, Maggie Cassidy who passed away from cancer in 2004 at age 62.

READ THE ORIGINAL STORY HERE

The piece of farming machinery that had lay dormant for 31 years proved to be worth all of the late nights despite people warning Teddy that it would not last the journey to Killarney as a part of the Eastern Vintage Club event organised by James Carolan of Carolans Coaches, Nobber.

But now that the challenge has been completed, Teddy has left the treasured tractor to his five year old daughter Mya who has her own plans for the vehicle as he explains:

“The tractor is now registered in my four-year-old daughter, Mya’s name so it’s her tractor now.

"She loves showing off the tractor to anyone that visits and has suggested that Santa could even use it as a back up plan if his sleigh breaks down! I'm not sure if he'd get too far in it with all of the boy and girls he has to get to but he could definitely give it a go, it's the right colour anyway!"

“When we suggested we were going to do the charity run at first, everyone was laughing at us, they said it would never make it to Kerry but we never had an inch of bother with it,” said Teddy.

“She was out most of the time rooting at it with me.”

- This article first appeared in the Christmas Cheer annual which is currently available in shops and packed full of inspirational stories and festive fun