Welcome!
Welcome to the Harry Ferguson Memorial home page.
We welcome visitors to our site from all over the world and this year would be a fantastic year for you to visit us in August. The events below would make interesting “Headliners” for your break and you could travel the Ferguson Trail and view the wonderful sights of this beautiful country. For Ferguson enthusiasts it is going to be yet another year of anniversaries.For help in planning such a trip contact the N.I.Tourist board at www.discovernorthernireland.com.and mention the Ferguson Memorial website.
If you do visit, not just at this time but at any time during the year, and you would like someone to meet you and show you around the Memorial Garden, we would be very pleased to arrange that for you.Contact us in advance by phone or e-mail. We look forward to seeing you.
The year is now well underway and we can now give the dates of our events and to firm up what we will be featuring at them.
The Annual Homestead Event at Growell is going to feature as many types of Ferguson tractors as we can muster.As a result we would like to hear from you if you have an unusual Ferguson and can attend the event on 21st August.Please contact us by phone or via the website.Look out for the new 2010 event poster/leaflets which are being distributed now.
We are also trying to give the event a more family feel and with that in mind we hope to have items which will interest everyone as well as some specialised ones for the young folks!(details to follow at a later date)
The charity that we will be supporting this year is MS (Multiple Sclerosis Society Northern Ireland) for more details see www.mssocietyni.co.uk. As with the charity we supported last year (Cancer research N.I.) all money will go to support local people effected by this condition.
The Harry Ferguson Lecture will take place in the Hillsborough Village Centre. This year we hope to have a special set of interviews with ex Ferguson employees as well as our very popular film show.As always there will be a free supper.
The Newcastle Celebration of the 100th anniversary of Harry Fergusons Flight along the Beach will be a must for Ferguson Fans.
We have just recieved the latest information on this event as detailed below.
Admirers of Harry Ferguson should be delighted with the vast range of events in the programme for this important festival. The items cover both Harry fergusons’ well known agricultural achievements and his less well known, aviation exploits.
RED ARROWS POINT TO FANTASTIC FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT
Down District Council has created a unique festival to mark the centenary of the first official powered flight in Ireland, made in 1910 over the sands of Newcastle, Co Down by Harry Ferguson, Northern Ireland’s most celebrated engineer and inventor.
The Harry Ferguson Festival of Flight will run from Monday 2 August to Sunday 8 August 2010 and boasts over 40 events, including over 30 free events for all to enjoy. Although he is perhaps best known for the invention of the modern tractor, Harry Ferguson was also an important pioneer of aviation. This element of Ferguson’s illustrious life will be recognised and celebrated on Saturday 7 August with a dramatic display by the Red Arrows.
The full festival programme will be available shortly and the week of centenary celebrations will bring tens of thousands of people to Newcastle this August. In confirming the Red Arrows’ attendance, Chairman of Down District Council, Councillor William Dick, said ‘Newcastle will provide a magnificent natural amphitheatre for the Red Arrows to showcase their displays which will not only add a stunning spectacle to our Festival of Flight programme, but also serve to illustrate the importance and scale of the festival.’ Continuing on, the Chairman also stated that Down District Council was delighted to welcome the Red Arrows and commented that an invitation had also been extended to the Irish Air Corps.
A series of workshops covering ‘fantasy drawing’, ‘kites’, and ‘Ferguson flyers’ will keep the whole family entertained at the Newcastle Centre. Free lecture talks on various aspects of Harry Ferguson’s life and the contribution he made to aviation in Northern Ireland will take place on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 August, while a special showing of ‘The Man Who Could Fly’ by Double Band Film production will be available on Sunday 8 August. Also on Friday 6 August, Annesley Hall will be the setting for an exclusive champagne and candlelit supper with Peter Corry and Guests. Tickets for the event are £35.00 and seating is limited, so book early to avoid disappointment. Alternatively for all those who miss this opportunity, Peter Corry will be performing hits for the ‘West End’, on the festival stage, South Promenade on Saturday 7 August at 6.30pm.
So, ‘for those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer’, pick up a festival programme where you will find everything from vintage tractors, exhibitions and lecture talks to children’s workshops, street theatre, music and dance. Some of our special highlights include U105 Live Broadcasts and Roadshow, Red Arrows Display, Open Air Concert by Peter Corry with his ‘West End’ hits show, and our Pageant of Flight Carnival Float Parade. You are sure to be entertained throughout these memorable centenary celebrations!
For your free copy of the festival programme, further information and details about accommodation contact the Festival Office, on 028 4372 2222, email newcastle.tic@downdc.gov.uk or download a festival programme online at www.downdc.gov
This promises to be a fantastic week of events to suit everyone and then you have two weeks to recover and come along to the Homestead event on the 21st August!.
We get visitors from all around the world and we really appreciate that they are accessing our website. We would like to hear from any other Ferguson Clubs around the world. Please get in touch.
Learn about Harry Ferguson and our group, look at the merchandise we have on offer, and check out photographs of recent events.
Check out Bill from the HFCC appearing on ‘Ultimate Ulster’ to talk about Harry as one of Ulster’s Top 10 People!
Ultimate Ulster
Bill from the Harry Ferguson Celebration Committee appeared on UTV’s ‘Ultimate Ulster’ to talk about Harry as one of Ulster’s Top 10 People!
... read onAlso:
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Aviation Centenary
In August 1910 Harry Ferguson claimed the prize for flying over 3 miles along the Newcastle beach in County Down. This event is going to be celebrated by the town of Newcastle with some very special ... read on
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Welcome to Harry Ferguson Memorial.com
We’ve just re-launched our new site with a slightly different set up. If you notice any problems or bugs please do get in touch and let us know what’s wrong.... read on
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Virginia Agricultural Show
31 Jul 2010 @ Virginia, Co Cavan
Our friends from Co Cavan, The Midlands Group, are holding their Virginia Agricultural Show, featuring “The All Ireland Bailey Cow Championship” on the 31st July 2010. Contact number show above.
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Harry Ferguson Festival of Flight
06 Aug 2010 @ Newcastle Centre.
Part of the Harry Ferguson Festival of Flight this day will be of particular interest to Tractor entusiasts as the Newcastle Centre plays host to Ferguson Tractors 1936-1957. This will then be followed by a cavalcade around Newcastle on Friday evening, ending at Donard Car Park. See News for more details.
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Annual Tractor Road Run
20 Aug 2010 @ Ballykeel Baptist Church carpark
Hot food/refreshments available on site
Events
About Harry
Henry George Ferguson was an Irish engineer and inventor who is noted for his role in the development of the modern tractor, becoming the first Irishman to build and fly his own aeroplane, and for developing the first four-wheel drive Formula One car.
Born in 1884, Harry was the son of Mary and James and the 4th child of 11 in the Ferguson family.
Harry attended Drumlough primary school not far from the family home at Growell outside Dromore, he was a bit of a lad in his youth and had more interest in doing things he wasn’t allowed to do than attending school, in fact he was expelled from that same school for a short time for misbehaviour.
Harry’s parents were from a strict Plymouth brethren belief and rules were meant to be obeyed and that meant helping out on the farm as heavy manual labour.
Harry left school at 14 and he was of small stature and not really suited to this type of farm work but was expected to do his bit on the farm.
By the time he was 18 he gathered up enough money to emigrate to Canada but was stalled by his brother Joe who offered him an apprentaship in his car and cycle business in Shankill Rd Belfast, harry accepted and enjoyed the challenge turning out to be a great asset to Joe’s business, Harry was good at tuning engines and improvement modifications and as a result Joe’s business thrived.
Harry attended Belfast Technical College at night to improve his education and skills.
Later on harry took part in motorcycle and car racing in the 1920s and this took place around the well known circuit of the Ards TT. Harry loved speed and was in his element having earned the title “THE MAD MECHANIC”.
Harry also had a desire to build and fly his own aircraft which in fact he did having his first official flight in December 1909, it was also noted that he was the first Irishman to build and fly his own aircraft and the first to have a female passenger.
Now most people relate harry to the famous grey tractor we see all over the world and rightly so as it was a great design and still working today on many small farms, however it was indeed a system of mechanical engineering called the 3 point linkage that harry is famous for, this was his claim to fame and it works of the hydraulic system at the back of the tractor enabling the driver to raise and lower any implement mainly a plough and therefore making farming so much easier, of course the development of such a design took time and this FERGUSON SYSTEM as it is known is on all tractors you see today.
Grey Ferguson Brown tractors were the first popular model and followed by the famous TE 20 tractor, this tractor was so simple to drive and operate and can be found in every town land all over the globe.
Harry was responsible for many inventions over many years including numerous implements, a well ahead of its time a 5 door hatchback car fitted with a form of ABS and electric windows no less, he also developed a 4WD system which was fitted to a racing track car and driven by Stirling Moss, the same system is also fitted to the classic car Jensen Incerpeter [Jensen ff].
So a brief history of Harry Ferguson proves that he was indeed one of Ireland’s greatest inventors and hence the opportunity for me to stand here today and sing his praises.
That is just a brief history about Harry Ferguson and indeed it would take more than one website to tell you his life story.
Who are we?
Initially a small group of Ferguson enthusiasts, we with assistance from the Midlands group Virginia Co. Cavan, are determined to create and produce a long overdue memorial for Ireland’s genius, Mr. Harry Ferguson, the man who turned agriculture on its head many years ago.
We started of by staging tractor events around the year 1999 to raise funds for the memorial project and we are still holding events at the Homestead every August. We finally achieved our goal in August 2008 and we are proud of the finished project in memory of our genius Harry Ferguson. We thank all those who have supported us in attending our events in the past and subsequently helped us raise the funds to complete this memorial garden at Growell Co Down.
The memorial garden is set opposite the Ferguson Homestead and exhibits a life size bronze statue of Harry and has the facility to display a Ferguson tractor on site plus information and history boards throughout the garden.
The memorial garden is designed so that photographs taken will include the homestead in background.
We hope you enjoy your trip through our website and we invite you to visit in person at any time throughout the year and take in the history information boards as you stroll up the memorial garden.
