The unique agricultural display drew large crowds at Limerick Show

WELL-KNOWN collector and model enthusiast John Cusack said putting on a large-scale agricultural diorama at Limerick Show was like “going home”.

John has special memories of Greenmount Park because his late father Jimmy was an employee there when it was a working farm prior to being a racecourse.

“It’s called Massey Ferguson X Factor. It’s an event I thought up a few months ago. Today is a special day because this was where it all began.

“My father worked here for Lord Harrington over 30 years ago. We spent all our time down here playing as young children, and it was all Massey Fergusons on the farm here. So from tractors to the combines to the balers, trailers, everything was Massey Ferguson,” said John, of Fedamore.

He said he has been asked for a number of years to put on a display at Limerick Show so he decided to devote it to Massey Fergusons.

“There are 130 (diecast models). It took me about three days to put it together between building the table and all the bits and pieces. This morning, we started laying models at 7am and it was around 10.30am when we got it completed. It will have to be stripped down this evening and boxed away again,” said John, who thanked Whelan’s Garage for sponsoring him.

John said the response from show attendees was huge.

“We’ve been inundated with people - it has been mobbed here. It’s all ages from kids to grown-ups. It’s lovely to see the reaction on children’s faces, they’re so happy. It’s great to get to chat to people here,” said John, who describes it as a special occasion.

“I feel like I’m going home today. My father died when I was only 13 years of age. At Christmas time during those years we lived here in Patrickswell, we would be taken down to Lord Harrington’s main house for a big Christmas party for all the workers’ children. We were left there for the day, we were looked after and got a fabulous present going home.

“They were really good to us and this place has been good to us so it’s nice to be back,” said John.

If he had every type of Massey Ferguson possible then in the next stand Gary Kirwan (pcitured above), Corbally, had every type of Lego imaginable on display. He had hundreds if not thousands of pieces for sale as well as letting children play on tables with Lego pieces.

However, this was just a fraction of the Lego he owns.

“I have a huge collection - my house is full of Lego,” he smiled.