GRANDMA'S TRUCK
WE all know the Disney films. A basic moral story, given some impossiblenot-to-love animal characters, a few emotional twists and turns, not to mention an evil baddie, a castle or two, and some irritatingly catchy songs. The ‘Disney Magic’, they’ll tell you. Others see them for what they are: gimmicks. Forgive my cynicism, but believe it or not, if the story has all the right ingredients, it doesn’t need cheap tricks or magic spells. Telling it straight is enough. Like our cover story this month, a tale of family history, emotional bonds, and an ever-present 1988 Land Rover Ninety.
Our story starts with Toby Lane. His grandma and grandfather lived in rural Dorset and ran a farm. “She was quite mad, very batty; an old school farmer’s wife with four children,” says Toby. “Not the best, or quickest driver, she would tootle around everywhere in this Ninety at 40 mph. She loved her grandkids, and the farm was her life, which she moved to, newly-married, at 22,” says Toby.
The arable farm has been in the family for 400 years. When his grandma and grandfather moved there in 1957, they bought
