Update 9 - September 2023
Former Autair and British European Airways pilot Mike Bennison kicked off this season’s talks last Wednesday with an entertaining insight into his early days flying propliners including our very own GAGRW. Many thanks to those of you who battled the wet weather and turned up to help us raise over £500. Our next talk will take place on Thursday 19th October when Blackbushe historian Rob Belcher returns to talk about Blackbushe in the heydays of 1950/60s. Numbers are limited so be sure to buy a ticket via the link on the Events page of our website.
Vagabond on show to the participants of the Twilight Runway Challenge on 16th September.
The Engineering team (lead by Trustee Phil Johns) has also been battling the weather of late whilst making excellent progress. Lights have been installed in the fuselage, the scaffold boards fixed in place, a number of the old perspex windows have been removed and a further baggage hold door has been opened and removed. A small team have methodically gone through the cabin picking up all the rubbish which had accumulated, a particularly dirty job. We are once again very grateful to Paul Nichols who has been busy building wooden trestles which will allow us to lift the aircraft to give access to the lower fuselage and baggage hold doors. Please do get in touch if you would like to get involved in the engineering team, no experience is necessary and there is no minimum commitment required.
The Fundraising team (lead by David Ashworth) is currently approaching local businesses to see if they will donate prizes for our Christmas Raffle. Please get in touch if you know any that may be able to help. We hope to have the tickets on sale by the end of October.
BHT was in attendance at the RAF Odiham and Brize Norton Families Day.
Alexis Holding lead a successful bid to join the Hart Lottery. You have probably already seen the email on this but in case you missed it this is a great way for us to raise funds as we receive 50% from all ticket sales. Participants get the chance to win prizes of up to £25,000 for just £1 each week and every ticket has a 1 in 50 chance of winning a prize at every Saturday draw.
We have also started to look at the merchandise we have on offer and how we can expand this range. The first offering is a BHT branded wrist watch which is now on sale for £50 and other ideas include fridge magnets, key rings and even a Viking beer. Watch this space… and just a gentle reminder that use of the BHT logo does require Trustee approval.
BHT has attended a number of recent events including RAF Families Days at both Odiham and Brize Norton. We have a busy event schedule pencilled in for next year and as soon as dates are finalised we will enter them on the Events section of our web site.
Chairman Peter Brown continues to be a local celebrity with a live interview on ITV Meridian News on 15th August. The crew spent a day with us and produced a 4 minute news clip which aired that evening. More recently we hosted Ben Dunnell from Aeroplane magazine (look out for the October edition) and Greatest Hits Radio.
Peter Brown being interviewed by Greatest Hits Radio on 21st September.
Our eBay shop (run by James Burton) continues to be a big success with over £800 raised to date from donated books, models and BHT merchandise. If you haven’t already taken a look please do so using the link on our website.
Gary Browne has been working hard researching Vagabonds flying life by delving into the archives of British Airways. Blackbushe was a really important airport for predecessor British European Airways with much training taking place along with handling diversions which were particularly common during winter fog. One BEA station report for the winter of 1952-1953 states ‘the wind still whistles bitterly across bleak Hartford Bridge Flats.’ No welcoming Pathfinder cafe in those days.
And finally, we are looking for a projector to use for our talks programme and also shelving for our soon to be expanded shop. Please do get in touch if you are looking to dispose of either of these items, we would be very grateful to here from you. Once again a massive thank you for all your support, without which BHT would cease to exist. Best Regards, Peter, Phil, Dave, Pat, Chris, Becky and Mark Trustees
