About Us

During 1998 a group of friends came together with the view to re-kindle the ploughing matches on the Island after a break of twenty five years. Following lengthy discussions, it was resolved to establish a Society. Will Hughes was elected chairman and indeed has been re-elected to the chair each year.

After electing officials, the way forward was to acquire land to stage the event. The committee had a lot of work in raising the funds, however due to the readiness of local businesses willing to sponsor the event, the money was raised.

The committee were also able to acquire the original cups & trophies which were used as perpetual cups during the matches held years ago. We have a dedicated working committee and at the present time there are twenty members. We meet once a month at a local hotel, which is ideal, as soon as the committee comes to an end, we are able to relax over a pint or two!

The first two matches were held at Bodior Farm, Rhoscolyn, Valley by kind permission of the Bulmer family. The first match was held in September 1999 where 24 tractors & 2 Shires competed [see the Photo Gallery for newspaper cuttings and photographs]. The second match, 30 tractors competed but no Shires.

During 2001, the whole community was hit by the 'Foot & Mouth' crisis and most events had to be cancelled. The committee felt very low, the idea came to drive two Ferguson tractors to the factory at Banner Lane, Coventry ~ see the photographs of the journey in the Photo Gallery.

During 2002, the match was held at Cleifiog Farm, Valley by kind permission of the Hughes family. To try and encourage more competitors, the committee resolved to change to a Spring match. 35 Vintage tractors competed and five Shires which was truly spectacular.

2003 - We were offered 80 acres of land to stage the event at Bodelwa Farm, Ty Croes near Rhsneigr by kind permission of Richard & John Owen. As there was so much volume of land available, the committee resolved to try and acquire a further attraction. The Steam Plough - the first time for this to be seen on the Island. To acquire the steam engines, the committee acquired funding from the Welsh Development Agency, National Wind Power and the Anglesey Show Committee. This was a truly successful day, the weather was kind and the volume of spectators was marvelous.

During February 2004, some of our lads went over to Ireland to compete with the view of trying to encourage our Irish friends to come over to Anglesey, indeed 8 of our Irish friends came to compete at our match. The committee are extremely grateful to Stena for their readiness to sponsor the journey.

March 2004 - Bodorgan Estate agreed that we could stage the competition. The competitors turned up, however due to the weather conditions, the number of spectators was very low.

We feel as a committee, that there have been many changes in our rural ways, the cattle markets closing and people missing out on socialising, we believe that both the Ploughing Matches and Threshing Days are so important to bring people together.