James May of "Top Gear" fame starts his new BBC series "The Reassembler" with a project to rebuild a Suffolk Colt Mower from the 1950s. The programme is on BBC4 at 9pm on Monday 4 April and will be available on the iPlayer afterwards for a couple of weeks. The trailers for the show have been fairly sparse but it looks like James will be rebuilding the mower and finding out more about its history and how it was made along the way. Should be fun and might even give the many, many people who contact the club about these popular old machines a few hints.

Old Lawnmower Club member Jim Ricci, a resident of Massachusetts, has published a new book on the history and development of the lawn mower in the USA. This is the culmination of decades of research by Jim, who first joined the Old Lawnmower Club in the mid-1990s. The book has over 250 pages and more than 150 images of American mowers going back to the 19th century. Jim is an active member of our club and regularly attends our Annual Rally and other events in the UK.

"After years of research and writing, my book 'Hand, Horse and Motor: The Development of the Lawn Mower Industry in the United States', has now been published," says Jim. "My contact with hundreds of fellow enthusiasts around the world, via personal visits, telephone calls, letters and emails, has helped me document this history. I am deeply appreciative of their support and encouragement over the years."

Copies of the book are currently available direct from the publisher by mail order. We are hoping to arrange for copies to be available soon in the UK for Old Lawnmower Club members to buy with lower postage costs.