Bishop's Waltham man completing 1,000 mile journey to Lands End on 1942 Fordson Standard in memory of beloved mum
Embarking on a 1,000 mile trip, a Bishop’s Waltham man is travelling between John o' Groats to Lands End on an 83-year-old tractor in memory of his mum.
Ross Bartlett will be driving the monumental distance on a 1942 Fordson Standard to raise money and awareness for Brain Tumour Research in memory of his mum, Mary.
He started his tractor trek challenge in John o’Groats on Monday, May 12, and has already raised over £5,000 for Brain Tumour Research - just three days into the journey.
The 37-year-old said: “It’s a charity that hits home - my mum would probably think I was completely bloody mad which is most peoples’ responses but you’ve got to do these things because if it was easy everyone would do it.”
The mum of two underwent an operation to remove the tumour, three gruelling rounds of radiotherapy and two rounds of chemotherapy followed by ‘a courageous battle’.
In August 2019, the Bartlett family were given the heartbreaking news that Mary’s health was ‘deteriorating quickly’ and that she only had two months left with her loved ones.
On October, 10, 2019, Mary died in her sleep at the age of 63 leaving a void in her family’s lives.
Ross, who owns Bartlett's of Winchester, which buys and sells vintage and antique tractors, started planning the challenge back in March and he has been inundated with support.
He said: “Basically, I collect vintage tractors and have done for a very long time and it is what I do for a living - buying and selling them and I’ve always done it. We lost mum in 2019 and I just wanted to do something to raise awareness for the charity and raise funds to support them.
“Brain Tumour Research only gets 1 per cent of cancer funding in the UK which is a disgrace and I wanted to do my bit for them.
“I just wanted to do something in keeping with me and you have got to have a challenge - We wanted to do something to raise awareness and to raise money to fight this battle that so many people are going through.
“So many people have messaged me saying they have also lost loved ones to this disease.”
The tractor challenge is being self-funded meaning all of the money raised will be donated to the charity with Ross saying he is extremely ‘fortunate’ to be able to fund the fundraiser.
Ross added: “I’m doing about 90 miles a day on the tractor - it’s 83 years old and was designed to work in the fields not drive miles on the modern roads.
“The support has been amazing and I love that people have donated after passing me on the roads - I had one person say they’d gone past me on the A9 and they then donated which is incredible.”
So far, Ross has completed three days of his challenge and is due to finish his trek in Land’s End on Wednesday, May 21.
Brain Tumour Research is a charity that is ‘determined’ to find a cure for all types of brain tumours through campaigning to increase the investment in brain tumour research to £35 million per year. For more information about Brain Tumour Research, click here.