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Plans to make Suffolk tractor and vehicle museum more accessible

Mike Liggins/BBC Bill KemballMike Liggins/BBC
Bill Kemball started his collection of tractors in the 1950s

An 84-year-old man who has restored hundreds of vehicles and pieces of machinery hopes to make his collection more accessible to the public.

Bill Kemball, from Suffolk, started acquiring machinery and vehicles when he was in his 20s.

His collection includes more than 200 tractors, with many restored items saved from scrapyards over the decades.

Granddaughter Madge Kemball LaVergne said: "We want to keep it as intact as possible".

Mr Kemball's collection, called Power of the Past, includes tractors, military vehicles and agricultural machinery in his private museum on the former RAF Bentwaters site near Woodbridge.

Viewings are by appointment only, but in the future he hopes more people will be able to come and see it.

Mike Liggins/BBC Collection of tractorsMike Liggins/BBC
Although Mr Kemball has a vast collection, he says there are models he still wishes he owned

"I've got a lot of satisfaction from doing it and I've enjoyed the restoration side as well," he said.

Mr Kemball said he was always passionate about old tractors and machinery, but building the collection made him realise it was "interesting and probably worthwhile".

Mike Liggins/BBC Blue tractors lined upMike Liggins/BBC
Started on a farm, the private collection is held at the former RAF Bentwaters base

While he was building his museum, his wife Jane started her own collection - of fashion and dresses from the past.

He said: "I like to think that this is very diverse... we've also got the domestic side of life as well which I think is important, particularly the 100 years of fashion that Jane did."

Mike Liggins/BBC Tractors and war vehiclesMike Liggins/BBC
At the time, he says he was competing with "scrap dealers" to rescue some vehicles that had the potential to be restored

Although Mr Kemball says he may sell some of the surplus vehicles, he says he has enjoyed restoring others he saved from scrap.

"I used to really enjoy going round farm sales and I used to go round to scrap dealers," he said.

"I think I had the satisfaction of knowing that I've saved a lot of implements and tractors that otherwise would have been scrapped.

"Quite often I was competing with scrap dealers when I was buying things."

Mike Liggins/BBC Madge Kemball LaVergneMike Liggins/BBC
Madge Kemball LaVergne said that both the tractors and fashion from the past collections were a "legacy"

Ms Kemball LaVergne said she hoped even more people would visit her grandparents' collections and experience them for themselves.

She said: "It's a legacy, it's my grandparents' legacy and they've done an incredible job of putting it together for people to see.

"We want everyone to experience it, to learn from it... to keep it as intact as possible."

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