Guernsey teenager single-handedly restoring old tractors and machinery

• Kate Prout has this report.

Oliver Marsh from Guernsey knows a thing or two about tractors.

In the last year, the thirteen year old has restored a 1947 Ferguson TEA 20 that he dug out of a vinery in Vale, as well as a vintage baler and a Massey Ferguson that his dad bought his mum for her 40th birthday.

He said: "I got it running. It pretty much fired straight up. It had a blown head gasket so I pulled the head off, re-did the head, surfaced it and it works perfectly now. I also got the clutch going there and stripped the gears down to the cogs on the floor"

It is no surprise that Oliver is a natural mechanic and engineer. A love of machines has run in his family for four generations and he's been tinkering with machinery and steam engines since he was five years old.

This summer he has been making money for parts for his new project - an old Massey 550 from Sark - by baling hay using his own baler, and selling to local farmers. 

His parents have even bought a field so he can practice his grass and hedge cutting although he won't be able to drive on the road until he is 17. And he thinks he will want to work in England in the future as Guernsey's fields aren't big enough for him!