Find out where you can see the Liverpool Christmas Convoy Tractor Run

The Christmas Convoy Tractor Run has become a festive must-see in Liverpool

More than 100 twinkling tractors will take over the streets of Liverpool this Sunday to bring Christmas cheer – and raise money for Alder Hey and Fans Supporting Food Banks.

The farm vehicles will be festively decorated in fairy lights and tinsel, as well as the odd snowman and reindeer, as they wind through the city’s streets in a 28-mile pageant.

After raising £65,000 for Alder Hey last year, Olly Harrison, founder of the Festive Farmers Christmas Convoy Tractor Run, is hoping that this year’s event could raise even more – and top £100,000.

Olly says: “That’s the thing with raising money for charity, it becomes addictive, and you just want to keep raising more – it’s for such a good cause!

“We’ve got around £8,000 already and that’s mainly from the 110 tractor drivers who are taking part so, fingers crossed, we can beat last year’s total.”

Olly, 41, from Water Lane Farm in Tarbock, was inspired to start the event in 2020, after seeing a similar event in the Isle of Man.

He says: “They’ve been doing it in the Isle of Man for the last 10 years with about 30 tractors and I just thought that we could do it bigger and better – and raise a lot of money at the same time.

“I’d raised money for Alder Hey with a sunflower maze and realised I could do more.

“Plus, it was during Covid when we first did it, and we thought it was also a glimmer of light in the dark days.”

Olly adds: “This is the third year we’ve done it and we’ve got farmers coming from all over the North West to take part, and to take these tractors, that look amazing, through the city and to Alder Hey, is such an exciting event.”

The Christmas Convoy Tractor Run will set off from Olly’s farm at 6pm, hoping to arrive at Alder Hey at around 6.30-6.45pm, before heading to Stanley Park for 7.15-7.30pm where it will make a food bank drop to Fans Supporting Food Banks, with donations from all the farmers taking part.

“So it’s also a bit of a thank you from us to people for supporting us and buying our food all year round,” says Olly.

The full procession route goes from: Water Lane Farm* to Alder Hey, then Stanley Park, before arriving in the city centre on the Strand from the Liver Building end and leaving in the direction of the Women’s Hospital. It will take in Wavertree, the Childwall Fiveways, and Mather Avenue before heading back towards Hunts Cross.

And during its route from Stanley Park to Goodison, and past Springwood Cemetery, the convoy will have a ‘quiet zone’ so any children who don’t like loud noises and blaring horns can go there to watch it.

The overall parade is expected to take around three hours and, for the first time this year, Olly is planning a live stream from 5pm, so people can watch some of the tractors getting ready and keep a check on where it’s up to.

“I get 10 ready from our fleet and we try and make sure they are the best to encourage everyone to go better every year,” he adds.

“The Festive Farmers Christmas Convoy Tractor Run is a free event but it would be great, if anyone who can afford it, gives us a donation for Alder Hey.”

The top 10 donations will be listed on Olly’s YouTube channel (Olly Blogs) during the live feed.

To donate, you can go on the JustGiving page HERE.

Or you can text TRACTOR to 70450 to donate £5 (texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message).

* Spectators are asked not to join the route until after Water Lane.

**All roads of the route: Water Lane; Netherley Road; Whitefield Lane; Cronton Road; Tarbock Road; Roby Road; Bowring Park Interchange; Bowring Park Road; Thomas Lane; Brookside Avenue; East Prescot Road; Queens Drive; Utting Avenue; Priory Road (Quiet Zone); Walton Lane; Everton Valley; Kirkdale Road; Scotland Road; Leeds Street; King Edward Street; New Quay; Georges Dock Gates; The Strand; Strand Street; Wapping; Chaloner Street; Parliament Street; Upper Parliament Street; Tunnel Road; Picton Road; High Street; Childwall Road; Childwall Fiveways; Queens Drive; Allerton Road; Mather Avenue; Springwood Avenue (Quiet Zone); Hillfoot Road; Speke Hall Road; Hillfoot Avenue; Higher Road; Leathers Lane; Baileys Lane; Greensbridge Lane; Netherley Road, and Water Lane.