SERVICE DEALER'S MARTIN RICKATSON HONOURED

Martin Rickatson, Service Dealer’s freelance agriculture editor, has had double cause for celebration in recent weeks, marking the publication of his book on the history of Home Counties dealership AT Oliver and Sons Ltd and winning the runner-up prize in this year’s Power on the Farm award, organised by the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists and sponsored by engine business Perkins.

Martin, whose farming family has used Olivers’ headquarters depot on the Herts/Beds border near Luton for many years, was commissioned last year by the Oliver family to compose a book on the history of the business, in preparation for the firm’s 200th anniversary celebrations this year. ‘Backing Land-Based Businesses: Two Centuries Of AT Oliver & Sons’ was published last month in time for a bicentennial celebration event held by the company at the Hertfordshire Showground near St Albans, where customers and employees were treated to a display of products from some of the dealership’s franchises through the ages, and senior management from suppliers including Claas and JCB were in attendance. A report on the event will be published in the next issue of Service Dealer.

Meanwhile, Martin has also been celebrating taking the runner-up prize in this year’s Perkins Power Award, organised by the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists, for a feature published last year in Farmers Guardian on the first self-propelled grape harvester to be sold new into the UK, retailed by Essex-headquartered New Holland dealer Ernest Doe and Sons.

The reward was a cash prize and a trip to the first day of Wimbledon 2023, and Martin says he is now looking for a good Service Dealer feature topic that could help him take the top prize next year…