Not every commission that comes in is for a farm or house, some are for promotional artifacts as in this next job.
Early in 2000 I was approached by the National Farmers Union about making a Sit-N-Ride toy based on the new logo for the ‘British Farm Standard’ mark to be displayed on food packaging.
The reason they wanted this to be like a toy was due to the fact the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair and his wife had just become parents again with the birth of their son, Leo.
The ‘Little Red Tractor’ logo was about to be launched and the NFU were looking for away of giving the launch a high profile image and they came up with the idea of presenting this toy to the Prime Minister for his son, on the steps of 10, Downing Street, in front of the worlds media.
I was given a copy of the logo and asked to design and build the Sit-N-Ride version, plus a smaller Push Along version for them to present to the Prime minister.
I often wonder if Leo ever got to see and play with these, but at least the NFU got what they wanted, a public viewing and launch of their ‘British Farm Standard’ logo.
A few weeks later I received a hand signed letter of thanks from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair for the tractor. ( A copy of that letter is shown below).
The photo’s below show the ‘Little Red Tractor’ in various stages of construction.