A THIRTY-FIVE strong group of drivers put pedal to the metal to raise more than £1,000 for charity. . . in a huge convoy of tractors!

Farmers from throughout the county drove across East Lothian on Saturday to raise money for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland.

James Kennedy, of Seggarsdean Farm, to the south-east of Haddington, and Murray Macdonald, who works at Cairndinnis Farm, near Haddington, and lives at Boggs Holdings, near Pencaitland, organised the event.

Sixteen-year-old James told the Courier that there were tractor drivers from across the county, as well as Lanarkshire and even one from Perth, taking part.

He said: “It went really well.

“We had 35 tractors in total and the route around East Lothian was a bit long so we cut it short.

“We raised £1,160 and the total might up go up a little more with other donations in the coming weeks.

“The route was from West Adniston Farm, at Macmerry, towards Pencaitland, then Samuelston and into Haddington.

“We went through Haddington and stopped on the long straight up beside Henderson’s [Grass Machinery Ltd), then on to the Ballencrieff Roundabout and onto Longniddry, up the Coal Road, past Raceland and back through Macmerry.”

The 22-mile route finished back at West Adniston Farm, where soup and rolls were dished up, as well as a prize draw, with businesses and kind-hearted members of the public donating various prizes.

James, who is in his final year at Edinburgh’s Stewart’s Melville College, told the Courier that the charity was one which meant a lot to him.

He added: “A year and a half ago, my gran, Margaret Adams, passed away because of a stroke.

“That was the reasoning behind doing the event. We were thinking about doing the run and then we thought of the charity and we thought it was a good one to go with.”