My friend Des pulled out in front of us, jumped out of his car waving and shouting: “You have a flat tyre on the jeep!” To which my Grandad coolly replies: “You’d want to tell that young fella to keep going cause I have no brakes either!”
Two massive horses in the box and traversing the U-bends from Templeorum home from a hunt, my face blanched, but our trusty Land Rover got us home safely and I still semi-laugh when I think about it now. That might seem a little white knuckle, but not compared to the activities of Ireland’s only dedicated Land Rover owners club.
“The club was established over 25 years ago with a membership from all over the island of Ireland, everyone from knee-high to much taller, men and women, and we meet once a month to hone our off-roading skills,”says club chair Phil Dicker of its history. And I’ll be honest, this interview was conducted in a number of vehicles over the course of a day, fractured with a lot of inadvertent interviewer commentary of, ‘Ooooh, agghh, are we going up there? That’s a tree! OK we are driving over the tree’. It is quite the adrenaline rush.
Phil Dicker. \ Barry Cronin
The ethos is strong – a family-orientated club which promotes safe and responsible off-roading and tries to leave zero footprint where ever they go. Phil said that the club members are “conscious that off-roading may have a bad reputation as a sport in some parts of the country but in co-operation with the land owners, and with Coillte in particular, [they] run events that are responsible safe and enjoyable for all the members”.
‘I just want it sorted’
Before the safety briefing, we sat down with suckler and sheep farmer Terry Brophy who originally hails from Wicklow, but is now living in Kilkenny. Terry is involved with the voluntary mountain rescue in the southeast and tells us that Land Rovers are ubiquitous with mountain rescue in Ireland and the UK.
“Originally they were all Defenders – the iconic utilitarian work vehicle that has now been discontinued. The 1948 design was outdated and there were emissions issues which had to be dealt with.
Terry Brophy. \ Barry Cronin
“We had a series of Defenders but in 2017 the mountain rescue got a rural area grant from the Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais programme (CLÁR) to upgrade. This investment programme provides funding for rural areas that have suffered from population decline. The aim is to support the sustainable development of rural areas by attracting people to live and work there”.
“Mountain rescue is set up nationally, but this is just a collection of the autonomous teams who do their own fundraising. There is an annual grant from the Government but this only covers the insurance so the CLÁR grant was a boost.”
Terry explains that they get about 30 calls per year and in his 26 years, every call has been different. “We work closely with the coastguard helicopter as sometimes it is safer, for everyone, to get them helicoptered off. It takes about 20 people to do a stretcher-off, with the helicopter marine comes first, but whether it’s a stretcher-off or the helicopter, we are needed on the ground.”
Farming 63 hectares, 50 suckler cows and 150 sheep, Terry laments the tough year.
“Financially, we are seriously down this year. Lambing was better this year yes, but was a total disaster last year. We had a ram fail and as the year
turned out with no grass, it was actually the year to have it. However, it does mean we are down 200 lambs to sell this year.
“Would be much better if Brexit never happened but a lot of things won’t change, the UK can’t just get beef someplace else. It will stabilise, it will take a few years but it’s the uncertainty that’s the worst thing.”
“At this stage of my life, I am stoical about it, if we make more money, the factories and the supermarket will take it from us. Essentially, we are working on world markets so we should have more world markets to sell into. I just want it sorted.”
After the safety briefing we set out up the hill to the 150 acres of forestry which has something for all vehicles whether they are “nice shiny road vehicles or the better equipped off-roaders”. Irish Country Living jumps in with Jon Fennell, a dairy and beef farmer from Carlow. 
Jon Fennel, a dairy farmer from Carlow. \ Barry Cronin
Jon has had Land Rovers on the farm as far back as he can remember and bought his first one when he was 17 as it was the cheapest thing that he could tax and insure. He has been involved in the club for the last three years and considers it a vital social outlet.
“With farming, it can be a lonely life and it is nice to have an outlet off the farm. It’s good to get out and leave everything behind for a day. It’s important to get off the farm for mental health. With dairy you could be working 12 hours per day depending on your family set-up.”
He is in a partnership with his Dad and his uncle, and work it one weekend in three.
“To be honest, there have been some Saturday evenings, when there is an event on Sunday, I would be thinking, ‘Will I go?’. If times are bad, it seems like hassle but it’s worth that push to go”.
Very conscious of the pressures of farming life, Jon said that he is at the limit of his facilities and labour with his cows and any expansion would require a huge amount of investment. Pressure is coming at farmers from all sides.
“I got a lecture from an adviser before for having too much silage in the spring, ‘That’s worth money and you could be feeding more animals’, but then you have a year like last year and that advice is just wrong. You only need to make a surplus once and then it can sit there. This year we plan to be slightly understocked to allow this surplus to build up again.”
Before we jump into the next vehicle, Jon tells us: “A month ago, I had to be towed home, that is the glory of the club, nobody gets left behind. The club is like a men’s shed with a specific interest, where everyone rows in.”
‘I hit one tree, I’ve missed thousands of trees’
Definitely the most off-road-feeling vehicle we travelled in on the day was that of sheep and suckler farmer Seamus Stapleton and his daughter Emma and from Stradbally, Co Laois. First comment when I get in: “Hold on to something, we are going to take a bit of a run at it now.” 
'Club members of the year' Emma and Seamus Stapleton from Laois. \ Barry Cronin
On the dashboard is a sticker stating Remember stupid, you have to drive this home. I ask 11-year-old Emma what this means – not too do too much damage is her reply.
“Daddy has caused damage before, particularly when he crashed into a tree.”
Seamus is quick to retort. “I hit one tree, I’ve missed thousands of trees.” But she is the navigator and tells her Dad where to or not to go.
“Don’t go in there, you’ll get stuck.” The vehicle is well equipped and I am privy to my first winching of the day. Emma tells me that herself and her Dad do a fair bit of winching most days out, this charitable spirit helping them win the coveted ‘Club members of the year’ last year, although Seamus felt that there could have been a little bit of a sympathy vote thrown in as they didn’t win any cups.
'Club members of the year' Emma and Seamus Stapleton from Laois. \ Barry Cronin
There are two main events but competition wise, the Laragh Cup is the big one. The idea is simple; there is a punch on a tree and a card attached to your vehicle. You have to drive to the punch and punch the card. Whoever has the most punches wins. Sounds easy? Not so much if the tree is at the top of a mountain. The second is the August Charity Challenge which Seamus says is more of a navigational challenge, “almost like orienteering in a Land Rover”.
On farming, Seamus is deflated. “What [the factories] are doing with cattle is criminal, blaming Brexit but the Government has a lot to answer for.”
A vet with Glanbia for seven years, Shane McElroy has recently moved to head of technical with a broader remit including milk quality, nutrition and sustainability. When he moved to Kilkenny from the North, he found the Land Rover club a great way to meet people. However, it’s a family affair though with Land Rover.
\ Barry Cronin
“Dad bought a Series 1 Land Rover about 30 years ago and didn’t do a thing with it until I bought mine five years ago; then Dad did his up too. You can get one for a couple of thousand euros, and even at this money they are road-legal vehicles. The club ethos is fantastic, great craic and has a real family feel to it.”
My friend Des may have told us to stop the “jeep” all those years ago, but you better not use that term around the club Land Rover members, they are quite particular about that but not when it comes to raising money for charity.
The Land Rover club will hold their annual charity challenge in 53 Degrees North Adventures, Blessington, Co Wicklow on Saturday 24 August. All money raised goes to the Irish Hospice Foundation. This has been a hugely successful event raising over 25,000 since its inception. All details on the clubs Facebook page.
My friend Des pulled out in front of us, jumped out of his car waving and shouting: “You have a flat tyre on the jeep!” To which my Grandad coolly replies: “You’d want to tell that young fella to keep going cause I have no brakes either!”
Two massive horses in the box and traversing the U-bends from Templeorum home from a hunt, my face blanched, but our trusty Land Rover got us home safely and I still semi-laugh when I think about it now. That might seem a little white knuckle, but not compared to the activities of Ireland’s only dedicated Land Rover owners club.
“The club was established over 25 years ago with a membership from all over the island of Ireland, everyone from knee-high to much taller, men and women, and we meet once a month to hone our off-roading skills,”says club chair Phil Dicker of its history. And I’ll be honest, this interview was conducted in a number of vehicles over the course of a day, fractured with a lot of inadvertent interviewer commentary of, ‘Ooooh, agghh, are we going up there? That’s a tree! OK we are driving over the tree’. It is quite the adrenaline rush.
Phil Dicker. \ Barry Cronin
The ethos is strong – a family-orientated club which promotes safe and responsible off-roading and tries to leave zero footprint where ever they go. Phil said that the club members are “conscious that off-roading may have a bad reputation as a sport in some parts of the country but in co-operation with the land owners, and with Coillte in particular, [they] run events that are responsible safe and enjoyable for all the members”.
‘I just want it sorted’
Before the safety briefing, we sat down with suckler and sheep farmer Terry Brophy who originally hails from Wicklow, but is now living in Kilkenny. Terry is involved with the voluntary mountain rescue in the southeast and tells us that Land Rovers are ubiquitous with mountain rescue in Ireland and the UK.
“Originally they were all Defenders – the iconic utilitarian work vehicle that has now been discontinued. The 1948 design was outdated and there were emissions issues which had to be dealt with.
Terry Brophy. \ Barry Cronin
“We had a series of Defenders but in 2017 the mountain rescue got a rural area grant from the Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais programme (CLÁR) to upgrade. This investment programme provides funding for rural areas that have suffered from population decline. The aim is to support the sustainable development of rural areas by attracting people to live and work there”.
“Mountain rescue is set up nationally, but this is just a collection of the autonomous teams who do their own fundraising. There is an annual grant from the Government but this only covers the insurance so the CLÁR grant was a boost.”
Terry explains that they get about 30 calls per year and in his 26 years, every call has been different. “We work closely with the coastguard helicopter as sometimes it is safer, for everyone, to get them helicoptered off. It takes about 20 people to do a stretcher-off, with the helicopter marine comes first, but whether it’s a stretcher-off or the helicopter, we are needed on the ground.”
Farming 63 hectares, 50 suckler cows and 150 sheep, Terry laments the tough year.
“Financially, we are seriously down this year. Lambing was better this year yes, but was a total disaster last year. We had a ram fail and as the year
turned out with no grass, it was actually the year to have it. However, it does mean we are down 200 lambs to sell this year.
“Would be much better if Brexit never happened but a lot of things won’t change, the UK can’t just get beef someplace else. It will stabilise, it will take a few years but it’s the uncertainty that’s the worst thing.”
“At this stage of my life, I am stoical about it, if we make more money, the factories and the supermarket will take it from us. Essentially, we are working on world markets so we should have more world markets to sell into. I just want it sorted.”
After the safety briefing we set out up the hill to the 150 acres of forestry which has something for all vehicles whether they are “nice shiny road vehicles or the better equipped off-roaders”. Irish Country Living jumps in with Jon Fennell, a dairy and beef farmer from Carlow.
Jon Fennel, a dairy farmer from Carlow. \ Barry Cronin
Jon has had Land Rovers on the farm as far back as he can remember and bought his first one when he was 17 as it was the cheapest thing that he could tax and insure. He has been involved in the club for the last three years and considers it a vital social outlet.
“With farming, it can be a lonely life and it is nice to have an outlet off the farm. It’s good to get out and leave everything behind for a day. It’s important to get off the farm for mental health. With dairy you could be working 12 hours per day depending on your family set-up.”
He is in a partnership with his Dad and his uncle, and work it one weekend in three.
“To be honest, there have been some Saturday evenings, when there is an event on Sunday, I would be thinking, ‘Will I go?’. If times are bad, it seems like hassle but it’s worth that push to go”.
Very conscious of the pressures of farming life, Jon said that he is at the limit of his facilities and labour with his cows and any expansion would require a huge amount of investment. Pressure is coming at farmers from all sides.
“I got a lecture from an adviser before for having too much silage in the spring, ‘That’s worth money and you could be feeding more animals’, but then you have a year like last year and that advice is just wrong. You only need to make a surplus once and then it can sit there. This year we plan to be slightly understocked to allow this surplus to build up again.”
Before we jump into the next vehicle, Jon tells us: “A month ago, I had to be towed home, that is the glory of the club, nobody gets left behind. The club is like a men’s shed with a specific interest, where everyone rows in.”
‘I hit one tree, I’ve missed thousands of trees’
Definitely the most off-road-feeling vehicle we travelled in on the day was that of sheep and suckler farmer Seamus Stapleton and his daughter Emma and from Stradbally, Co Laois. First comment when I get in: “Hold on to something, we are going to take a bit of a run at it now.”
'Club members of the year' Emma and Seamus Stapleton from Laois. \ Barry Cronin
On the dashboard is a sticker stating Remember stupid, you have to drive this home. I ask 11-year-old Emma what this means – not too do too much damage is her reply.
“Daddy has caused damage before, particularly when he crashed into a tree.”
Seamus is quick to retort. “I hit one tree, I’ve missed thousands of trees.” But she is the navigator and tells her Dad where to or not to go.
“Don’t go in there, you’ll get stuck.” The vehicle is well equipped and I am privy to my first winching of the day. Emma tells me that herself and her Dad do a fair bit of winching most days out, this charitable spirit helping them win the coveted ‘Club members of the year’ last year, although Seamus felt that there could have been a little bit of a sympathy vote thrown in as they didn’t win any cups.
'Club members of the year' Emma and Seamus Stapleton from Laois. \ Barry Cronin
There are two main events but competition wise, the Laragh Cup is the big one. The idea is simple; there is a punch on a tree and a card attached to your vehicle. You have to drive to the punch and punch the card. Whoever has the most punches wins. Sounds easy? Not so much if the tree is at the top of a mountain. The second is the August Charity Challenge which Seamus says is more of a navigational challenge, “almost like orienteering in a Land Rover”.
On farming, Seamus is deflated. “What [the factories] are doing with cattle is criminal, blaming Brexit but the Government has a lot to answer for.”
A vet with Glanbia for seven years, Shane McElroy has recently moved to head of technical with a broader remit including milk quality, nutrition and sustainability. When he moved to Kilkenny from the North, he found the Land Rover club a great way to meet people. However, it’s a family affair though with Land Rover.
\ Barry Cronin
“Dad bought a Series 1 Land Rover about 30 years ago and didn’t do a thing with it until I bought mine five years ago; then Dad did his up too. You can get one for a couple of thousand euros, and even at this money they are road-legal vehicles. The club ethos is fantastic, great craic and has a real family feel to it.”
My friend Des may have told us to stop the “jeep” all those years ago, but you better not use that term around the club Land Rover members, they are quite particular about that but not when it comes to raising money for charity.
The Land Rover club will hold their annual charity challenge in 53 Degrees North Adventures, Blessington, Co Wicklow on Saturday 24 August. All money raised goes to the Irish Hospice Foundation. This has been a hugely successful event raising over 25,000 since its inception. All details on the clubs Facebook page.
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