Our dinner and dance went off with its usual finesse with more people than ever attending. The raffle was a great success, in spite of the fact that the CFI, tug pilot and chairman’s daughter-in-law tool! the first three prizes. Some merriment occurred during the flying achievements awards. A special award for the most publicised” flight was made to Bernie Keogh for landing at the Duke of Bedford’s estate rather close to the animals. We have had a poor start to the year because of the weather. Our launch rate so far is down on last year, but we hope that our two “flying weeks” and a really old-fashioned summer (with sun and not just warm rain) will put this right. Bob Cunningham and a friend of his brought their SHK from Keevil (their runway was being re-surfaced) and spent two enjoyable weekends with us. Bob brought his dog on the second visit. It was a Great Dane, with the emphasis on great, and proceeded to eat my lunch. Bob commented On how friendly we all were and how willing we were to rig the SHK (little did he know we wanted to fly it ourselves). On behalf of the club, I would like to say a heart-felt thank you to our retiring tow car syndicate, David and Eric for all the time and effort they have put in the job. The new team Alec and Godfrey are fired with enthusiasm, and have already ripped out, repaired and replaced the engine of the Yellow Peril inside one morning.
