AS a group of elderly men made their way around the Enniskillen RNLI station at Killadeas during a recent visit, one comment gave away what they all had in common.
While looking at the impressive RNLI lifeboat that was attached to a tractor, a man said: “Boys, but that’s some yoke.”
The thing was, he was pointing at the tractor, not the huge lifeboat.
They were all part of the Ederney Plough On group, which is a Rural Support project aimed at tackling rural isolation and increasing social opportunities for older male farmers.
This was why a good few of them spent as much time looking at the new Holland TD.5 95 tractor as the huge lifeboat it was attached to.
George Henderson from Sessiagh near Ballinamallard was one of them.
“Sure that’s farmers for you. It’s brand new,” the 66-year-old retired farmer said. “It can’t have been in a field too often because there’s not a mark on it. It’s probably never been out of second gear.
“There’s a man in Dromore that sells them. He’d be smiling from ear to ear when you walked into his office to see him about one. He’d even lay on tea and biscuits for you.”
The first meeting of the Ederney Plough On group was on March 29 last year, so they have just celebrated their first anniversary.
There are currently 23 men in the group, aged between 66 to 80+, who are predominantly from the Ederney area but there are also farmers from Kesh, Lack, Irvinestown, Dromore, Fintona and Castlederg.
Last year, some of the trips the group went on included a visit to the Ulster American Folk Park in May, the Clogher Valley Show in July and the AFBI Veterinary Lab in Omagh in October.
They also enjoyed a Christmas Lunch in the Killyhevlin Hotel with members of the Belcoo and Plumbridge Plough On groups – Belcoo has the only other Plough On group in Fermanagh.
“For me, the programme aims to address rural isolation, and it is humbling to know that what I’m doing as group leader is making a difference,” Ederney Plough On group leader, Neil Armstrong, said.
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