A large gathering of supporters turned up at Kilkenny Castle on Saturday 28 July to mark the start of the Ferguson 20/32 Challenge 2018.

Paul Palmer from Ballyouskill, Co Kilkenny, set out on a 1,500 kilometre sole voyage around Ireland on his vintage 1955 Ferguson 20 tractor to raise organ donor awareness.

I hope that I can help to make a difference

Paul decided to take on the challenge of raising organ donor awareness as a relative is suffering from organ failure.

Self-funded expedition

Paul, who has a huge hobby for vintage tractors, is expecting his slow arduous journey to take over a month to complete on his Ferguson 20, which travels at a maximum speed of 25km per hour.

Attached to the 63-year-old Ferguson 20 tractor is a crafted wooden wagon, which was specially made by Paul with the help of his brothers, John and Jimmy, and some friends. This wagon will provide his nightly accommodation for his self-funded expedition through the 32 counties of Ireland.

Paul said: “I hope that I can help to make a difference for all those people in organ failure and that by doing this challenge I can inspire people to make the decision to support organ donation which will result in more lives being saved through transplantation.

“I hope that my vintage Ferguson 20 will not let me down. I’ll be grateful to communities and individuals including farmers and vintage enthusiasts who offer me their hospitality, along my journey and I’m confident some will allow me to park up at night on their properties. I’ll be happy to show up at vintage fairs and other festivals, if invited, should they happen to fall within my route plans.”

Donor cards

Paul will be distributing organ donor cards and be photographed in towns and villages he passes through. His experiences along the way will be displayed on the Facebook page the Ferguson 20/32 Challenge 2018. Anyone wishing to make a contribution to Paul’s challenge with proceeds going to the Irish Kidney Association can do so directly to the Irish Kidney Association on Facebook via the following link www.facebook.com/IrishKidneyAssociation/.