Our 2010 Christmas Enthusiasts Event & Buffet takes place on Saturday 4 December at Hawkwell Village Hall, Essex SS4 4EH, starting at 1.00 p.m. The VRT Catering Team will be pulling out all the stops to provide a high quality, mouth-watering buffet for everyone to enjoy.
Our guest speaker for the afternoon is Stephen Bridgewater, the commercial director of the Air Atlantique Classic Flight
Steve Bridgewater began volunteering at Air Atlantique in 1995… little did he realise he would later become their Commercial Director! Perhaps best known for his career in aviation magazine editing Steve now splits his time between writing, and looking after many aspects of the Air Atlantique Classic Flight and the AIRBASE visitor centre at Coventry Airport. He will be speaking about the past, present and future of the collection, and also 100 years of airshows, which is another subject close to his heart.
Steve reveals how a trip to an airshow as an aspirational nine-year old moulded his life:
‘I remember straining my neck to look into the far distance. An unmistakable shape was circling on the horizon, a shape this fresh-faced nine-year old had seen in books and magazines, but never seen in the flesh. The incoming aeroplane was now trailing a cloud of thick black smoke and flying straight towards the airfield. The mighty Vulcan bomber was inbound. At crowd centre the pilot stood the big delta onto its tail and the engines howled as it climbed towards a large blue patch in the sky. For the next 15 minutes I stood spellbound as the V-Bomber cavorted in front of me, a wide eyed grin seemingly painted onto my young face. This was 1984, I was just nine years old but I remember my first airshow experience to this day. I’d always been interested in aeroplanes but that day, more than 25 years ago, I knew I wanted to be a pilot.’
Steve has held a National Private Pilot Licence (NPPL) since September 2005 and has flown aircraft as diverse as the Jet Provost, Extra 300 and Bulldog. He was born and bred in Tamworth, Staffordshire and has also lived next to RAF Wittering near Stamford. Although trained in marketing Steve made his aviation career as an aviation journalist and has edited Air Action and Go Flying! magazines and been Deputy Editor at Today’s Pilot and Pilot magazines. He has been short-listed for the prestigious International Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award (AJOYA) on three separate occasions and has had work published worldwide.
The afternoon will also feature the result of our 2010 Prize Draw, a look at some of the best Vulcan photos ever and much more. Our sales team will be on hand with some exciting souvenirs to fill your Christmas stockings and Steve Bridgewater will also have a range of Air Atlantique memorabilia for sale.
Admission will be by advance ticket only. Tickets can be ordered on-line at tickets.avrovulcan.com http://avrovulcan.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=52 (please note that a small booking fee applies). VRT members can also order by post using the booking form sent with the winter issue of Vulcan News. All tickets must be ordered and paid for by 30 November. All proceeds from the event will go towards the ongoing restoration and preservation of the Trust’s Avro Vulcan B2 XL426.
We look forward to seeing you on 4 December!
By: BigPhil - 2nd December 2010 at 18:50
VRT Christmas Enthusiast Event cancelled due to bad weather
Due to the recent poor weather, we have taken the decision to cancel our Christmas Enthusiast Event and Buffet that was due to take place this Saturday, 4th December.
The heavy snowfall that has affected much of the country over the past few days has been particularly bad in the south east, with many roads unusable and public transport severely restricted. Although the snow is expected to ease in the next 24 to 48 hours, the freezing temperatures mean road and transport conditions are likely to remain very difficult over the weekend.
We cannot guarantee we will be able to hold the event so we have very reluctantly decided to cancel. We are also very aware that, given the road conditions, many of you would have concerns about travelling or would simply not have been able to travel at all.
We appreciate our decision will disappoint all those who have bought tickets but feel it is the correct one given the circumstances. We will, of course, provide full refunds and we will process these as soon as possible.
Prize Draw 2010
We know many of you intended bringing your ticket counterfoils along on Saturday for inclusion in the Prize Draw. As the draw won’t now be happening that day, we have extended the deadline for returning counterfoils and cheques to Friday 10 December. The draw itself will take place as soon as possible afterwards and will be adjudicated by our promoter, Graham Cash, and one of the Trust’s trustees.
If you still have any outstanding counterfoils for return, please send them (together with cheques made payable to Vulcan Restoration Trust) to: Graham Cash, 27 Starts Hill Road, Orpington, Kent BR6 7AR.
Christmas Gifts
our Christmas event has always been busy with many of you buying gifts and souvenirs from the Trust’s merchandise range. The good news is that you can still do this, as a wide range of our souvenirs and other goodies are available from our web shop. We have a wide selection of books (including the new Avro Vulcan ‘bookazine’) DVDs, polo shirts, baseball caps, and much more, so please pay the shop a visit at shop.avrovulcan.com.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year, and we look forward to seeing you (weather permitting!) in 2011.
Visit the Vulcan Restoration Trust Website: www.avrovulcan.com
By: BigPhil - 28th November 2010 at 21:07
Just a couple of days left to book your tickets. 🙂
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November 22, 2010 at 6:49 pm