More than £2,500 donated to Boston Pilgrim Hospital for children's healthcare following tractor run

The event began at the Bluebell Inn, in Tattershall Thorpe, and wound its way through the Lincolnshire Fens to finish at Maurice Belton’s Yard, in Sibsey, more than 20 miles down the road.

It featured 45 decorated tractors and vans, including an 85-year-old vintage Minneapolis Moline tractor from the US.

The festive fundraiser was organised by Owen Gillman, of Holland Fen, as a follow-up to one he held in 2024.

He said he was determined that this year’s event would be bigger and better, helping raise more funds for the hospital’s children’s ward.

“When we visited last year with our donation, the staff explained exactly where our funds would be spent,” he said. “We understand what is needed and how the poorly children will benefit from our donation.”

Fellow organiser Judith Laird, whose husband farms in New York, near Boston, said the fundraiser was a way for communities to give back to the hospital for all it does for families in the area.

Together with her granddaughter Alice, she ran along the convoy collecting money from the hundreds of residents that lined the roads to cheer on the eye-catching procession.

Owen, Judith and Alice recently presented a cheque for £2,582 to United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity.

Charity fundraiser Connor Hill said: “A huge thanks to all the farming families who took part in the convoy and all the communities who came out to cheer them on. The money raised will help us provide those added extras that will make a real difference to the lives of our youngest patients during their stay at Pilgrim Hospital.”

In 2024/25, United Lincolnshire Hospital Charity helped transform healthcare in Lincolnshire’s hospitals by funding 342 projects to a combined amount of £1.2million.

For more information about the work of United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity, visit: ulhcharity.org.uk.

For a gallery of photos from the last year’s tractor run event, click here.