››Newsletter No. 5

 

International Auster Club Heritage Group

Mike Preston and Mick Ames

Professor Mike Preston
28 Broome Lane
Ratcliffe on the Wreake
Leicestershire
LE7 4SB
Tel: 01664 424647
E mail mike@mepreston.com

18 October 2008

Dear Heritage Group Member,

Welcome to the autumn 2008 newsletter. The main reason for this letter is to invite you to this years Annual General Meeting. Due to repair and rebuilding work at local village halls we have moved the venue to the British Legion Club which is at the centre of the village, next to the Horse and Groom pub with the Britannia Inn close by.
Address: Royal British Legion, Main Street, Queniborough, Leicestershire, LE7 8DA

AGM Saturday 15th November

The venue will be opened at 12.00 noon; this will allow you to arrive and to get some food at one of the pubs. You will be able to stay at, or return to, the Legion at any time. The AGM will start at 3.00pm and aim to be finished at 3.30. The room is be booked until 4.30.

The meeting will be provided with some entertainment from 1.30 to 3.00. Drinks will be available during the course of the meeting.

Timetable

Noon to 3.00pm

Access to hall
Drinks
Food at Pub
Entertainment
Video How about a quiz with prizes Or just chat

3.00 to 3.30pm
AGM Agenda

1 Apologies
2 Minutes
3 Matters Arising
4 Chairman’s Report
5 Treasurers Report
6 Election of officers Chairman Treasurer Secretary Committee
6 Report of Main Group
7 Celebration of 70th Anniversary of Auster
8 Future Events
9 Any other Business
4.30 Close

Eighty-Year-Old Takes To The Skies on Landmark Birthday

An octogenarian from Old Woodhouse in Leicestershire is “on a high” after taking to the skies for her 80th birthday. Home Farm Close resident Margot Brookman went for a spin and even took the controls for a loop the loop in an Auster Aircraft to calibrate her big day.

The flight was one of the few times Margot has been back at the controls of a plane since her father, A L Wykes who established development of the classic World War Two planes at Rearsby Airfield before his death at an air show in 1944 taught her to fly aged 14.

She said”My father was the founder of Auster Aircraft. I went to fly with him a lot and he taught me to fly myself. I met someone from Auster Aircraft recently and said I’d love to go up for my birthday and he organised it.

“I was so thrilled,I really was ,it a most wonderful experience. I burst into tears when we came down. I’ve been on a high ever since. (Loughborough echo 27 June 2008)

 

Thurmaston History Day

On Saturday 27th September the International Auster Club Heritage Group was asked to put on a display at the Memorial Hall in Thurmaston. The day dawned and we arrived at the venue complete with display, books, prints and other material. We set up the stand and awaited the first customers. It was a slow start but we were soon answering questions about the Company, its premises in Thurmaston and the history of people who had associations with the company. We collected a lot of names of people or their families who had associations with the company.