The Opening
The burnt out Grey Ferguson
The rebuild had been a fairly traumatic experience and didn’t go entirely as anticipated. It was difficult to plan a proper opening, when, we could not be sure when the building would be ready. So to avoid any embarrassments we had gone with a soft opening on July 7th 2017. Working on the principle, that once the glitches were out the way, we could plan a proper launch for the new building.
The August Bank Holiday weekend was chosen for the occasion and our MP, Mr Mark Pawsey was asked to officially open the shop. Mr Pawsey had been very supportive of our planning application after the fire.
Mr Pawsey next to the Fergie he is about to unveil
We needed something symbolic for Mr Pawsey to do. When we first opened the old shop in April 2004 we had installed a Grey Ferguson Tractor in the middle of the shop. The Mayor of Rugby had sat on the tractor and declared the premises open. Despite losing it’s pride of place in the shop and being relocated to the green house, it was still a favourite with the kids and customers alike. The Fergie suffered in the blaze that destroyed the shop.
My father, was very upset after the fire and set about restoring the little grey tractor to its former glory. With the tractor back to mint condition it was
The Lea family: Chris, Tim, Mark, Sue, John & Richard
decided that Mr Pawsey should unveil the newly restored Fergie.
The ceremony took place on Friday 25th August 2017 at our official relaunch and was part of a weekend where we celebrated being open again.
We had a host of our favourite local suppliers tempting customers with samples of their fresh produce and lots of fun activities.
The farm came to the shop
A straw castle for the kids to play on