Sounds like a bit of a muddle.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9347880.Former_air_museum__manager_banned__from_site/
By: Arabella-Cox - 4th March 2012 at 23:11
Hangar repairs
I’m pleased to be able to report that significant repair work is coming to an end on the centre hangar (H2) at Hooton.
It’s about ten years late but the main thing is it is actually happening. This repair work will give the hangar a new lease of life and stop any further degradation of the structure. It is just a pity that I will not be around to enjoy it.
In case it has not been clear in my preceding posts about the site, it is the poor management and worse, the manipulation of that management by unscrupulous individuals, not the project itself, which has been the main focus of my invective.
If, after I have left, the project undergoes a renaissance and has a bright future then I will be very happy. I reiterate, though, that I believe until the bad apples are removed or controlled then what success is achieved by repairs to the buildings will be wasted unless an imaginative and free-thinking board, unfettered by politics and vendetta, are in control.
Anyway, enjoy the pics and remember, the success of this recent work is almost entirely down to one (fair-minded and enlightened) person on the HPT Board.
Anon.
By: Arabella-Cox - 20th February 2012 at 19:55
Airframes at Hooton
Those you remember are still there, XN194, apart from the Anson, which has been sold to a dealer to be parted for spares.
The F-4J(UK) Phantom (nose), ZE352, is still there but due to move by the spring. Meteor WK914 has gone and of the Meteor T.7, WL405 major sections, some have gone already and the rest will go with the Phantom.
GT don’t have any airframes (replica or otherwise) any more.
Anon.
By: XN194 - 20th February 2012 at 13:30
Whats left aircraft wise???
Wont be a very big entry in this years Wrecks&Relics will there??……by my estimation about 30 aircraft projects have passed through HP in the last 20 years or so…. more than enough for a decent Aviation museum but then this unbelievable series of events(or maybe not so remembering earlier dealings with GT) kicked in.
How many are still there?Avro X1X …Luton Minor… Flea ..Alpha and the Hunter nose and I think the Miles bits still in the container……
What a shame.
Good luck to all who have moved on to pastures new… you gave it your best shot and more much more.Looks like you are well out of it!
By: WV-903. - 19th February 2012 at 22:24
Hooton Park,— Don’t waste your time guys.
The place will go nowhere in the next few years (As I see it ). I feel sorry for the one good HPT Director/Member and the other 2 good TAC Members that I know personally. They are trying to do their best, but the place is now falling apart (Hanger wise ). No 1 hanger has a real “wobbly” roof line,with a tree growing out of it. That roof in one side being held up by internal scaffolding,but that is a huge weight of materials up there. If and when that collapses,that will most likely pull down the other side hanger where the buses are at present.
This will then leave the one(2 really ) Middle or No.2 hangers, which should stay up, as with work done already,it’s future looks more secure. This is(Or was ) the main area where the caravans are stored for members of Public and is the main Income to keep HPT going. So where aircraft Preservation would ever come into this equation ? Who knows, except for the Small “Museum” ::rolleyes:in HUT 29.
I’ve no intention of setting foot in the place again. (I couldn’t afford their charges even if they did allow us back in. ) No doubt this will make some folks there happy, –it does me.:D I tell the wife it was just a bad dream cos people aren’t really like that.
Goodnight and good-bye Hooton Park. Subject closed.
Bill T.
By: pully113 - 19th February 2012 at 20:45
Anon,
I have not yet had chance to reply to ‘Part 4’
As I was there at the time I can only agree, I have offered free help on a number of occasions including the NAHM membership list (265 members) which I offered to re-contact and see if people would be interested in a newsletter or voluntary hours, the response, nothing….
Let see what outside opions we get
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th February 2012 at 20:33
A sorry and familiar tale it seems, repcobrab.
Is it because, in this country, the shirts and bean counters are in charge, not the engineers?
I will explain the re-involvement of TAC, Air Ministry – something I did not explain due to the requirement to keep the posts as short as possible and that it was slightly outside the remit of the thread.
When the Save Hooton’s Hangars campaign was won in 1999/2000 those with an interest in having a presence at the site did so, as the Hooton Park Trust had a HP Friends organisation to encourage involvement there.
Under the manager of the site we began to import exhibits and restore stuff there and this led to workshop space being allocated. TAC were invited to be part of the project as they (it seemed) had lots to offer. As a member of NAHM (and TAC) I had canvassed TAC members when the objections were being submitted to EP&NBC against the hangar’s demolition and most if not all did so. Around this time, as the joint secretary and registrar of NAHM, I was stripped of my post as a trustee of TAC due to the fact that they considered this a conflict of interest.
Thus, TAC were “back in” to Hooton but by this time, although still a member, I was somewhat demoralised with them and had switched more of my allegiance to NAHM, subsequently “ploughing my own furrow” as I wound this organisation up a year or so later.
TAC were prized for their perceived status and pedigree so they were able to gain a decent foothold at Hooton and obtain first the hangar 1. annexe then progressing to a storage container and an extra portakabin for a workshop. About three years ago they also moved into their own hut where they still reside today.
They suffer from a shortage of members and few of the working members show little inclination in staying more than a couple of hours on a Sunday, so not much gets done – despite the fact that there is a long list of projects to be restored. This is as much to do with the unhappy conditions at Hooton as anything else though most members are now around 70 years old, which also doesn’t help.
TAC’s involvement on the HPT board stems from requests for more board members. Whilst on the board, it is expected that board members focus their efforts on helping the project as a whole and not, as it seems with other groups, with sticking up for their own activities. In general terms the HPT board is not big enough, nor is it diverse enough to do the job properly. It was a major mistake to allow in two of the Griffin Trust members who form part of the Old Guard. It should have twice as many members as it does at present but now that the Griffin Trust are, effectively, in control any enlargement will be strenuously resisted as the current size and make-up is as effective as they need it to be to get their own way.
It has been a generally held belief within the organisation that TAC has had its day, that the glory days are over and there is little to be done or found these days. I thoroughly disagree. There is as much to be found (if a little different than Avro Avians) if you bother to look. It says more about their prevailing state of mind than the realities of the modern preservation world.
True, TAC were once a flagship organisation, with a friendly and active membership (I believe you were there with Ian, A.M.?) and these are the so-called halcyon days, where projects seemed to fall into their collective lap and historical airframes were to be found everywhere. The realities were somewhat different to that and in many ways TAC is better off today than it was then.
I think that both HPT and TAC need an injection of experience and motivation (and a willingness to go outside of the gene pool) if they are to go anywhere which can be considered a success. The trouble is that the folks in charge all believe they can do it yet they also so obviously lack the knowledge and capability to do so.
This joint state of affairs has gone on now for nigh-on twelve years. We are running out of time at Hooton so, at this eleventh hour will the powers that be come to their senses? I hope so, but I doubt it.
Unless the politics, petty agendas and vindictiveness stop then Hooton is going nowhere.
Anon.
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th February 2012 at 18:45
The reason this all happens is because voluntary organisations always attract a few people who maybe haven’t been very successful in their working lives and it gives them an opportunity to get a bit of power, its an ego thing and they mistakenly believe that to get recognized you have to upset a lot of people. Which is probably the reason they never made a success of their working life anyway.
I think all museums which started off by the hard working initial members should have a clear mandate that everybody understands which includes behaviour to others.
I was involved with YAM in its first stirrings when the site was undeveloped etc, from the outset there were people who just wanted to be in control take al the credit and do no “hands on ” stuff ,there was a small hard core of members who did all the prepartory work on the site ie drain clearing and general tyding up, plus collecting exhibits ,cleaning and restoring them at their own expense,plus a section who stripped the Hastings at Catterick Fire Dump over many months ,these people were largely overlooked when any PR handouts were prepared,plus Bernard Jefferson was treated very poorly for all his work in restoring the Rear turret for the Halifax ,there were many other people who donated many exhibits and received no recognition , it was mainly about who could have the largest bunch of keys in the end i myself wasted eons of time being involved with YAM , it will self destruct in time .too many egos and the “Lads who didnt come back” are just also rans
By: Arabella-Cox - 17th February 2012 at 13:53
That’s a good idea.
(“Summon The Aeroplane Collection!”).
Seriously, it would help give an overview to what has become, for me, a slightly confused picture. You’ve done a very eloquent job of writing this saga up, anon, and it’s probably my fault for not reading the tracts carefully enough but I’m a bit puzzled as to why an organisation which you say now exists only on paper (TAC) should be relatively well represented on the HPT Board if the very same organisation was forced off-site some years ago by HPT/GT, resulting in the loss of its collection? Is it a case of wanting to maintain a toe hold on the situation at HP, or something else?
And what are TAC’s aims now anyway, and what of the various other aero-minded organisations you’ve mentioned; are they all defunct or just going in other directions?
It is all very sad. I posted a thread recently offering my collection of Control Column supplements (the monthly minutes of meetings etc of the N.A.P.S. which became TAC in about 1970) to a good home. I had a last flick through them before JonH collected them and they reminded me just how proud I felt to be a member of N.A.P.S. doing my bit towards a NW Air Museum. I felt a decline set in as early as the late ’70s/early ’80s, with the loss of several prominent members, from which the organisation never recovered. I finally threw the towel in when I realised there was no longer any real interest in pursuing a museum to display the collection in. It was as though the coming of the Air & Space Museum signalled the end of that particular dream (“someone’s done the job for us”). I still feel sad when visiting Aeroventure, Newark and Midland Air Museum and seeing what a bit of initiative and enterprise can do. Hooton Park could have been a belated opportunity to set up a real enthusiast led display, contrasting with the dull shed that is the Air & Space Hall (that’s a personal opinion, of course:rolleyes:).
I doubt there’ll be another opportunity. 🙁
By: Robert Whitton - 17th February 2012 at 11:31
Very sad.
I wonder if anyone in an official position from The Aeroplane Collection might wish to give their comments.
By: Atcham Tower - 17th February 2012 at 10:50
Truly a sad state of affairs that such a promising venture has degenerated into a clinic for sociopaths. Some would say psychopaths …
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th February 2012 at 22:53
Evening All.
It is time to post the final miserable instalment of my story about the goings-on at Hooton Park both past and present. My apologies in advance – it is a long one but, you may be pleased to hear, the last instalment.
Also, my thanks to the Moderators for their tolerance and understanding of this sorry tale.
In this stage of the story I am moving back to Hooton from the Millom museum. It took me 15 months to move from Hooton to Millom two years previously and as the following events unfold I am about half way through an 18 month process of moving back to Hooton. I have negotiated a rent with the “new” manager, a pleasant and easy-going chap and aviation enthusiast. (He is sacked 12 months later as he is deemed an unnecessary expense). The future looks brighter, now that the previous psychopath has gone and I resolve to keep out of trouble and button my lip in the vain hope I will last a bit longer!
Part 4. – the move back in, and out again.
Note: Whilst the Hooton Park Trust must accept final responsibility for what has happened (it is, after all, their site) at Hooton. I nevertheless place the responsibility for all the mentioned woes firmly in the lap of the Griffin Trust.
The HPT Board: (please see the Companies House web site for the identities of the individuals, if you wish to know)
Chairman: A pleasant, and largely absent, individual, he has a significant family history in the site. He ignores the problems and lets the board decide for themselves. Quote “we don’t want to lose Mike but if the board decide otherwise I will go along with the decision”
Board member A: Ex-Griffin Trust Chairman who has stated to other individuals that he “is there to fight for Griffin Trust” (which action is forbidden under Board rules).
Member B: TAC member who, although he does not know it, would refuse to admit and would deny it anyway, has been indoctrinated by the GT woman. A miserable fellow he walks around as if he carries the world on his shoulders. He says “No” to almost anything which is asked of him.
Member C: Griffin Trust member also, he is a firm and pleasant chap but his allegiance is to whoever he considers holds the power, therefore ensuring he is always in favour. Nicknamed “the Enforcer” for good reason.
Member D: TAC member but of independent and fair mind he should serve as an example to the rest of the board. Amongst other achievements, he has managed to get Vauxhall Motors to cough up the money they have owed for far too long. He is outvoted on anything the Griffin contingent wish to push through.
Consider some of the events of the last two years or so:
Security fence damaged (probably by children) so memo goes out from HPT admin (GT woman) to the effect that access to the area (behind the fence) should be via other means. Witness (unknown) has seen “people going over the fence” and, in future, access area via gates. In other words, your fault and we saw you. None of us know anything about this until the memo but it goes out as an official admonishment from the hand of the HPT administrator (the GT woman).
April 2010 – Whilst tidying up, after the arrival late the previous afternoon, of a 748 cockpit I am approached by the Griffin Trust Chairman who has a rant and then says to me: “Back again, bringing all your fu***ng rubbish to the site, we’ll see about that, we’ll have you out of here”.
Official complaint sent to HPT to put it on record. Result? Nothing and not even the courtesy of a reply.
Summer 2010 – The Griffin Trust accountant, who is a member of the HPT Board “resigns” her HPT position citing personal reasons about Hooton which “may damage her career prospects” (she is a middle-aged woman with her own company). The GT chairman “resigns” his GT chairmanship and is immediately accepted to the HPT Board to replace the accountant without any period of qualification. His enmity towards certain individuals (me) is well-known as is his bad temper and argumentative attitude.
Summer 2010 – Now in his official capacity as a HPT Board member the ex-GT chairman enters the hut I rent and demands to know who rents this, who rents that, etc. After getting the answers he says “oh, they do do they, we’ll see about that” and similar such comments. Complain to HPT Board – result? Nothing, no reply. The rest of the board probably see the behaviour of this man as entertainment and do nothing about him alienating customers (me).
One of the areas I rented was an outside storage area known as the wash bay. One weekend I arrive and find a pair of Anson wings blocking my area (moved there by stacker truck driven by the ex-Griffin Trust chairman-now HPT board member). I enquire as to why and am told by admin (The GT woman) “you have enough stuff in your area, Mike”. A firm but polite letter to the HPT Board suggesting barricading is a poor substitute for dialogue falls on deaf ears. The wings remain. I obtain a pallet truck two weeks later and move them myself.
I tell another HPT director what I have done and he virtually screams at me that “I don’t give a s**t for Hooton Park”, implying that I am taking advantage of them.
I enter an official complaint (again, for the record) of what has happened to the HPT Board. A short letter comes back saying “if you are not happy with the way things are here then you can leave”. In other words, if you don’t like verbal abuse, then **** off.
The following six months –
Memo – telling me/us “Not allowed into Hooton on Mondays and Fridays”. Nothing we can do but comply.
Memo – “No visitors (to us) allowed on site without notification to the board at least one week in advance and written permission being given”.
Memo – “24 hours (minimum) notice has to be given before any of us attend Hooton site”. (One board member actually refuses to give someone access; The chap phoned the afternoon of the day before to come in the following morning. “No”, came the reply, “it is less than 24hours to go before you want access so you can’t come in”)
Memo – “We will need to be insured to work on our stuff or have anyone working on it on our behalf”. OK, fair enough, we start to arrange it and get quotes around £300 yearly. Seems they don’t like my friends coming on site to work on my stuff but we accept this one as not unreasonable.
Memo – (very soon after the last one) “No working on our stuff on site”. I ask for dispensation to just decant stuff into small boxes and label some items. Reply comes “No, the Board has decided you can continue your work off-site” (?)
Memo – “No post or parcels allowed to be sent to us at Hooton Park”.
Memo – “No business allowed to be run from Hooton Park premises”. (Where did they get this one from? It seems to matter not that the Griffin Trust run a full-time business from their sheds).
Memo – “Only one hour allowed on site in any one day and this only to check on your stuff to see if it is OK”. This is because we are “storage clients” not an aviation group with restoration work and organising of gear to do.
I am late with my rent and receive a letter from the HPT board evicting me from site. The arrears were paid up in full the previous week.
During the above period there appear various acts of minor sabotage perpetrated on site – none of it particularly serious and impossible to pin down. Request for checking of security camera footage is refused.
1. 748 main door found fully open and inflatable lifejackets taken from stowages and laid on seats.
2. Meteor centre section found partially pushed over and resting on rear fuselage alongside. First thought it is the wind but the section is sheltered behind hangar from that days prevailing wind and the wind is also 120 degrees out from the direction required to push it over.
3. An aero engine is loaded on a trailer and the trailer parked up in approved area until the following weekend. On towing the trailer out one tyre is completely flat. The valve cover is only just on and when the wheel is removed and re-inflated it stays up (and remains fully inflated to this day).
4. Two Meteor nacelle fronts were on a trailer sat on their rear face. They weigh around 100lbs each and are very sturdy. One is found having “fallen” from the trailer and is badly dented and rolled away. There have been no winds of sufficient velocity to even rattle this item in the recent past and it is also behind a screen sheltered from the prevailing wind.
Further directive arrives – “No working on cockpits etc outside of hut as they are visible from the (private Vauxhall) road and may encourage people to break in after hours”.
Three months later the Griffin Trust have two vehicles “stolen”. The vehicles are next to a gate ready to go out the next day and the heavy stacker truck batteries removed from blocking the gates. The vehicles mysteriously disappear that night after the gate padlocks are cut and vehicles never seen again. Despite this, Griffin Trust do outside restoration and maintenance on their vehicles in full view of the road. No one says anything to them about this. It appears this directive only applies to us.
Memo – the Community Cabin (a portakabin for washing, tea making and lunching facility) is now out of bounds to us. We are only Storage Clients and therefore do not require it.
Finally, as if confirmation of my unpopularity were needed, a notice was pinned up (and is still there) by the signing-in desk that “no members of TAC are allowed on site unless accompanied by a TAC duty officer”. The following list of D.O.’s lists every member of TAC who visits Hooton except me. It seems I am not allowed on site in the name of the group of which I have been a member for 25 years unless another member is there. I often used to call in mid-week to do a few bits (members attend weekends) and this prevents even that. Signed, of course, by the Griffin woman. Management attention to detail is, apparently, everything.
Rented area summary:
My areas were:
Hut 29 (half) – 20ft x 30ft, plus a sliver of another area in the same hut. Total rent was £1650 annually which works out at about £2.50 per sq/ft.
Wash bay – 40ft x 10ft @ £1000 annually which works out at £2.50 sq/ft
A trailer and 748 fin/rudder were stored externally at £100 each.
Griffin Trust areas/rental summary
2 x M/T sheds approx 150ft x 50ft = 2 x 7,500 = 15,000sq/ft – rental? Free.
Area between above sheds (fenced off) 100ft x 150ft = 15,000sq/ft – rental? Free.
The equivalent cost at £2.50 sq/ft is therefore £75,000.
The reason touted for the free rent is that the GT paid to have the roofs of their own sheds replaced at around £17,000. Because (technically) the HPT own these sheds then this was accepted in lieu of rent. They had the roofs done about 6 years ago, however, because the roofs were classed as a temporary structure (remember the Hooton Park buildings are Grade 2* listed) they are only supposed to be on for 5 years before the correct materials are utilised for replacement, so they are out of time).
It is also relevant to point out that the Griffin Trust are a registered charity and a limited company and on this basis they will get rates exemption and are also able to offset their costs against the business.
Covered shed – 50ft x 10ft = 500 sq/ft Rent? – free
Outside scrap/storage area approx 30ft x 30ft = 900 sq/ft Rent? – free
Hangar 2 annexe – the Griffin Trust have the full length of the hangar of rooms utilised as their offices, private WC’s, archive room etc, etc. Size about 80ft x 30ft = 2,400 ft – Rent? Free.
Private grassed area outside their offices – approx 80ft x 40ft.
May I suggest that the Griffin Trust have a very nice arrangement at Hooton Park. They are not the owners but they are assuredly the occupiers. The tail wags the dog!
These are also the people who, from the security of their nice little offices and workshops, seek to make the existence of almost everyone else on the Hooton site a miserable one. The Vauxhall Agreement (signed way back in 2000 on hand-over of the site to HPT) stipulated that the Griffin Trust could not be evicted from the site, so they rule from a position of almost complete immunity and with impunity.
As of today
Currently, I am about clear of Hut 29, and this has taken a year so far. Alternative accommodation has been found but I resent very much, the fact that all this moving and its associated cost has been caused almost entirely by the actions of the Griffin Trust and their policy of victimisation towards myself and others who chose to pursue a different approach to, ostensibly, the same goal. It is time and money with which I should, and could, have been restoring my aeroplanes and artefacts. Time and money wasted through the bigotry and intolerance of others.
I can truly say that, for the last 18-odd years, I have suffered at the hands of these tyrants and that, if the aforementioned helps to bring to a wider audience the injustices and down-right bloody-minded behaviour they have inflicted on many of us, then I can say it will have been worthwhile in recounting it. If it helps in their unmasking and even their downfall, then all the better. I shall not be in the least sad to see them go.
I apologise to readers that this story has been a long one (and yet, only covers the most salient points), however, I can truthfully say that, as far as I can ensure, every sad and regrettable episode is, to the best of my knowledge, true. There is more besides but this is as much as I can expect any patient reader to endure.
Thanks.
Anon.
By: pully113 - 15th February 2012 at 12:03
Anon,
I have just replied the following on the Heads Up – Hooton Link
Anon / Richard,
To answer your question regarding whether this is the right thing to do.
The hangars were saved by a consortium of groups and some very hard working people that includes Anon.
Griffin Trust, North West Aviation Museum Group (NAHM), The Wirral Aviation Society (TWAS) Clwyd Aviation Group (CAG) and more were involved in the SHH campaign, but ultimatley the hangars were saved By The Public For The Public!
The board that were given control of the hangars came from a mixture of the groups and were allowed to raise minimal funding to keep the business running but the major investment was to come from HLF and EH, which is Public money.
So far any money recieved by Hooton has been Public money. The return on investment calculation for this money eventually is a site that will be open and used by the public in may ways.
This is the problem we face, there seems to be no rules or regulations that control this sort of site. The current groups have formed a ‘Closed Shop’ enviroment of which we and other willing people are not allowed in, this is not in keeping of the spririt, history and effort that went into saving the hangars in the first place.
That I think is why Anon is justified in this case.
They expect to recieve Public (Our) money, in return they lock us out?
By: Arabella-Cox - 14th February 2012 at 18:04
True.
True, Mark V, but what the Albert Dock didn’t have was a bunch of militant-minded, cunning and duplicitous people at the heart of it trying to eradicate everyone but those they could manipulate and to, ultimately, obtain the place for themselves.
Very few, XN194. Almost everybody you talk to in vehicle preservation both locally and further afield have not got a good word to say about the Griffin Trust. We should know as we attend many shows every year and meet a lot of ex-members and ex-friends and acquaintances of these people.
Some are quite vehement in their condemnation. GT care not a jot – water off a duck’s back springs to mind.
More later.
Anon.
By: Mark V - 14th February 2012 at 10:29
What a sad story…. I remember exploring the site in wonderment back in 1988, it was a time capsule.
At least the hangars are listed, but that will not guarantee their long term survival. They need purpose and funding. Just a couple of miles away across the Mersey on the Liverpool waterfront is the largest group of Grade 1 listed buildings in Britain – The Albert Dock. In the 70’s it was in a poor state, having been bombed in WWII and fallen out of use as dock. Demolition was considered, but with the new perception of heritage value in the 80’s its importance was recognised and it was turned in to a multi-use development, leisure, retail, accommodation and a major art gallery. That was achieved because there was a clear, workable, profitable use strategy and financial backing in place from both local business, national bodies and local and central government – it worked. Thats how its done – either that or you need a single minded wealthy individual who can fund it him/herself but even then a long term strategy is needed to ensure future survival.
By: XN194 - 14th February 2012 at 09:39
Hooton
Simon
as Julius Ceasar said “et tu brute?”
Is there anyone in the local aviation or bus preservation groups that GT or HPT have NOT managed to alienate????
Do people actually pay to have their historic vehicles stored in a building that is likely to collapse on top of them?
By: pully113 - 13th February 2012 at 22:03
Bring on Part 4!!!
Anon,
Your account is as I and many remember it, after the programme tonight people may think there is a future at Hooton maybe there is, but they have had literally hundreds of people through that place, volunteers and donations all thinking they were giving to a good cause…..
This place has cost you, me and others time, money and health, lets hear the rest of the sad tale, funny thing is if you gave this to a film producer he would probably think it was too far fetched..
By: Jon H - 12th February 2012 at 22:58
Picture of repair work mentioned above taken today.
Somewhere behind the tree you will see the roof covering change colour from white (the new stuff) to black (the old)
Jon
By: Arabella-Cox - 12th February 2012 at 20:53
Hooton Park – Part 3. – where do we go from here?
Sorry about the thread semi-hijack, folks. I am not attempting to upstage YAM and their difficulties, however, the thread title proved to be very appropriate – and still is.
HP – where do we go from here?
It was assumed that, with the newly-formed Hooton Park Trust that with the preponderance of aviation interest on The Board, there would be room for a lot more aviation orientated displays and artefacts. Wrong!
Whilst there were some moves this way there was no coherent attempt to organise a sensible and relevant collecting policy and a suitable person, or persons, to oversee it.
By good fortune, the ex-Avro company hack and Ecko Electronics radar test bed Avro Anson G-AGPG arrived for TAC, courtesy of Avro Chadderton, where it had been stored for the previous twenty years, Basically a basket case, there were plans laid for its restoration, then it was put in the Falling Down hangar and largely forgotten.
Hooton Park Trust, meanwhile, were making big plans for a lottery application touting all sorts of ill thought-out plans for a training centre, restoration centre and other ideas that would guarantee the HLF would write a large cheque and send it to them by return. The HPT Board, by this time, were ignoring NAHM and suitably sports-jacketed and cream-trousered, they were meeting in private, without consultation with anyone else on site, to thrash out the details of their master plan.
Much pomposity and self-importance was evident as the HPT Board members showed dignitories, councillors and other funding bodies’ representatives around the site whilst we busied ourselves with taking the message to the ordinary folk in the outside world. About five shows a year were attended and Hooton Park “sold” to the wider public. Also, open days were occasionally held, the visitor numbers increasing with every one we held as the word spread.
Around this time a new face appeared on the Hooton scene. It was the out-of-work son of one of the HPT Board, who was looking for a job and whom, it was judged, would be perfect for the role of site manager. The man was, it eventually became clear, an unmitigated disaster. He turned out to be the rudest, most inconsistent, bullying and uncaring (for people) man any of us would ever have the displeasure to meet. He had, however, one very positive role – he was more than a match for the Griffin Trust, who were trying to ingratiate themselves with The Board, and kept them firmly in their place.
Around this time NAHM priced for, and received, a commission to build a full-size replica aircraft for the-then new development of the old 1930’s, EH listed, Speke Airport terminal building in Liverpool. It was planned to sit outside the new hotel and provide a focus for visitors as well as an historically relevant artefact to compliment the hotel frontage. It was built, in 2001, in nine months and stands outside the hotel to this day.
The replica was built at Hooton and it was hoped that it would bring some more publicity to the site by virtue of its aviation connections. It was virtually ignored by the HPT as a publicity tool and when the HPT Board deigned to visit the project and view progress one evening in hangar 1. they walked straight past me and ignored me too – and I was building it!
The Lottery bid failed miserably. HPT were taken apart by HLF and were criticised for being just a Gentlemans Club and with no merit in the viability of any of their schemes. “It’s OK”, said our HPT masters, “we know what to do now, we’ll get it next time!” After another massive effort they failed the second time too.
Site users and volunteers were issued with lists of jobs which needed doing, so, to help with the day-to-day running and maintenance required, almost everyone made themselves available for work. A very pleasant fellow, Peter R, was entrusted to the task of compiling job lists and ensuring that those so qualified could complete the tasks required so that they could then be crossed off the list. After six months of a well-run and co-ordinated work campaign much was achieved – at little or no cost to HPT. At one meeting, Peter R happened to say that “top of the list for jobs earmarked and carried out was – Mike D”. I was rather pleased, but this was very soon tempered by the stony silence that followed – the Griffin Trust had been weaving their evil spells and telling the management how naughty we were and this flew completely in the face of that.
In the meantime, NAHM had a new chairman – me. I decided after very little thought, to disband the organisation. It was, first and foremost, a campaign group to save the hangars and that had been achieved. It was decided that we would become a preservation group and try and preserve what we could of Hooton-related aero-memorabilia and try and form the nucleus of an aviation collection. Meanwhile, Griffin Trust emptied their VM-related exhibits (which, it was acknowledged, were just as relevant to the site) from the display and disposed of them. The manager also micro-managed everyone and everything he came into contact with and many interesting and useful people just withered and slipped quietly away never to be seen again. Those few that remained were succinctly and systematically ground into the dust.
HPT never turned a hair (despite the protestations of a few) – the tail was very firmly wagging the dog. Manipulation was the order of the day. We were sidelined and belittled to the point where there was near insurrection. It was around 2006 that I decided that I had had enough and was going to leave. Not an easy decision to make, it would entail the moving of thousands of items and the leaving of a place I knew that my heart belonged but my mind detested. It took 15 months to move out. I took my Gloster Meteor and 610 Spitfires with me.
To be continued.
Part 4. – Return to Hooton, the final chapter?
Note: I hope that those of you who watch the Heritage Heroes programme on Monday evening can appreciate just a little more what a lost opportunity there has been at the site. The images you will see are a full eleven years after the site was supposed to have been saved – and not much has been achieved. In fact, the site is worse off in many ways. The only good thing is the efforts of one man on the HPT Board to pursue and acquire (in the last six months) the funds necessary to carry out the long-overdue repairs to the main hangar (number 2.), which is work-in-progress at the moment.
As always, comment and questions highly encouraged.
Anon.
By: XN194 - 12th February 2012 at 00:52
HOOTON
Visitors?????
Good god man they dont want VISITORS!!!!
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th February 2012 at 14:42
Looking forward to Part 3.
I see the HPT haven’t updated their web-site in a while – there’s several reference and photos of TAC activity on-site which gives the impression that things are proceding smoothly and jointly. Lots of bus activity too which I presume is the Group now leaving or already left?
Won’t leave an awful lot to attract visitors, will it?
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February 1, 2012 at 4:37 pm