FROM gleaming red Cortinas to 1940s Porsche tractors, Mountbellew will be the place to be on Sunday week next, July 28, when they hold their annual Vintage Rally on the mart grounds and adjoining farmers’ fields.

The rally which dates back to the early 2000s draws people from all corners of Ireland with a number of novel features each year catching the eye of spectators. This year, there will be a return to a different era in Irish farming when a team of local volunteers will demonstrate ‘the art’ of sheep-cocking making.

Before the era of ‘the wrap’ and the ‘round bale’, farmers prepared for the winter fodder season by making huge cocks of hay, either out the fields or in their haggards, to ‘see them out’ for animal feed up until late Spring.

Up to 20 of the smaller cocks – known to many of the older farmers as ‘tram’ or ‘tramp’ cocks – would either be drawn in by horse-and-cart, or with tractor and buckrake, before being forked in around a central pole which gave stability to the end-product.

The show organisers also promise a ‘massive display’ of every conceivable piece of historic farm machinery which will bring back many happy memories to an older generation while also being hugely popular to younger eyes.

Vintage Show PRO, Paul Connaughton Snr., said that household goods from pre-electricity days would also be on display – ‘an eye-opener for all young people as to how their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents lived’.

Pictured: Mountbellew Vintage Rally members preparing for their big day on Sunday week, July 28.