'Special' play tractor donated to primary school

Children at Trenode Church of England Primary School try out their new toy tractor

Children at a Cornish primary have been enjoying new play equipment after the arrival of a community-made wooden play tractor.

It was made for Trenode Church of England Primary at Widegates by Looe Shedders, a non-profit organisation aimed at benefitting the community and tackling social isolation.

Parts for "Tracky 1" were donated by local groups, including the large back wheels made from a cable drum, which were provided by a Looe fisherman and delivered by Looe Harbour Commissioners.

The charity said it took months to build because they do not have their own shed and they suffered a setback when their tools were stolen from storage units in November 2024.

The Looe Shedders test drove the tractor before handing it over to the pupils

The school has 89 pupils and at play time there was a rush to climb on board the tractor.

"It's better than a normal tractor," said Roman, a pupil at the school.

Ella, another pupil, said: "I love it... it's a really nice plaything to enjoy in this school, and very vibrant."

Fellow student Scarlett said she loved the name Tracky 1.

On board the tractor, the children said they wanted to travel to Hawaii, then Turkey and a famous fast food store.

Custom paint job

Tracky 1 was devised by Peter Heywood, one of the charity trustees.

He said: "Luckily I've got some great people to assemble it because they've done most of the work today.

"We built the playground bus for Looe Primary School and [Trenode primary] got to hear about us and called us in and said 'Could you make something like that for us?'

"Because the children here often come from a farming community, we said 'Oh let's build a tractor!'"

The tractor has two steering wheels which have come from ride-on mowers. The headlights were dog bowls and the custom paint job of blue and lime green were the colours from a paint donation.

'Absolutely love it'

Head teacher Beth Pike said the creation was amazing.

"I think we're just really lucky to have a community that is able to create something like this," she said.

"We could buy something in a catalogue but I just think this is so much more special.

"We're just very fortunate with having the link to it being a tractor and, being such a small rural school with farming families, that's why our children are going to absolutely love it."