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01 Mar 2015

February Club Night

News from our February Club Night

It was a full house have with  standing room only at The Ferry Boat Inn for February Club night, as we welcomed a number of new members and special visitors joined us on the night:-

Adrian Mordue & Alix from Longstanton who run a 991 Carrera S in Guards Red, Andrew Silley from Wimblington who runs a Cayman GTS & Cayenne, Peter & Caroline Fieldhouse from St. Neots who run a 911 CarreraC2S. They have been active members of Region 10 but have recently moved into our area. Peter has been involved in motorsport from both inside & outside the car particularly on the rallying front.

And returning after an absence were Dave & Sharon Phillipson from Biggleswade who run a 911 SC.  We are always pleased  to welcome visiting members from other Regions and on this occasion it was good to see Jo and Robin Walker.

In the “special visitor category” we were very pleased to welcome Frank Meteo the recently appointed After Sales Manager from the Cambridge OPC and we look forward to working with him and all the team at Harston. Frank was ably supported by Dan Fisher one of the Senior Technicians; Dan was heavily involved in the last year’s restoration project of a 911 undertaken by the OPC as part of a nationwide challenge from Porsche GB.

The great turnout was not only to enjoy chatting about our great cars but to listen to our special guest speakers from Vulcan to the Sky Trust based at Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster. We were very fortunate to have Kevin Stone (aka Taff), Crew Chief/ Chief Engineer and Toni Hunter – Access Manager both joining us.

Kevin talked about his RAF career which included being associated with both Red Arrows Display team and the Vulcan bomber Display team; the latter team being his favourite. He told about  the history of Vulcan XH558 , how it was “saved” by the Trust and the major engineering companies(Marshall Aerospace of Cambridge being a major  contributor) now involved in keeping it where it belongs – in the sky. For an aircraft which is 50 years old it needed major repairs to its airframe and many of its systems particularly the electronics which consists of many miles of wiring which all had to be checked or replaced. The UK Aviation authorities are very strict about any aircraft’s condition and perhaps more so with regard to older planes so there is a constant battle to keep XH558 airworthy. All this takes money – lots of it and even though the Heritage Lottery Fund have supported the Trust in the past, both Kevin &Toni & all the Vulcan team look to raise donations from any source. It was good to see then that our members bought tickets for a raffle which is being run by the Trust with some amazing prizes to be won. A sincere vote of thanks was given to “Taff” & Toni for a wonderful presentation.

All in all a great night, in the company of great people hearing about the iconic Vulcan bomber. A number of members expressed a desire to visit the aircraft at its hanger near Doncaster – sounds like a good blast up the A1 then!!

As ever the meeting closed with our two old friends TOM (Tip of the Month) & JON (Joke of the Night). The TOM was given by Edward Parry who has now joined the Bedfordshire Community Speedwatch Group – so don’t speed in & around Bedford unless you want to be nabbed by him!!. Then it was both Alan & Edward closing with suitable JONs

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