Newsletter
Issue 1 – May 2012
H
I E V E RYO N E and welcome
to our ﬁrst Newsletter,
which I’ll try to keep short
and sweet. By the time you read this
XV244 will be on Bay 61 at Kinloss,
which will make her very visible
from the Findhorn Road. We’ve
leased the bay though the Defence
Infrastructure Organisation, whilst
we develop the project further.
The lease is subject to a number of
understandable constraints eg. no
public access for the time being and
any routine husbandry activity needs
to be arranged through RAF Kinloss.
The front 35ft of XV240 is at Spey
Bay Salvage Ltd with the intention
of using it to promote Morayvia at
local shows, subject to transport,
insurance and access being resolved.
Husbandry will be required for the
two exhibits and that will be covered
in the engineering section.
The People
Morayvia is a registered Scottish
Charity run by a board of ﬁve
directors.
Mark Mair is an ex-Buckie ﬁshing
skipper, who also runs the Search
and Rescue Trust Fund, and has a day
job that takes him overseas often
at short-notice and for protracted
periods.
Bob Pountney is a retired SAR
winchman and is well-known
following a number of dramatic SAR
incidents.
pLeft to Right - Stan Barber, Shuggie
Hughes, Don Mackenzie, Terry Barber,
Gill Barber, Stephen Barber, Gonzo
Gosling, Chris Herbert, Bob Pountney,
Justin Morris
Our website is being managed by
Steve Smith another former ‘wetman’ but self-confessed computer
geek, and also Tim Dickinson a dry
man.Visit www.morayvia.org.uk
Sean McCourt is a retired RAF
engineer who has been heavily
involved with Nimrod maintenance
over his long and distinguished
career.
On the aircraft husbandry side Sean
is overseeing a team headed up by
Chris Herbert and Iain (Gonzo)
Gosling and a growing team of
volunteers. On the media (magazine)
side we have Tom Docherty who
has been ensuring that articles are
provided to a number of aviation
magazines. Another unsung hero is
Calum Mackenzie our architect. It
was Calum’s work on the Concept
and beyond that really captured
people’s imagination of what could
be achieved. Calum’s continuing his
work to ﬂesh out a feasibility study
from a design and build perspective.
Finally, we acknowledge Terry Smith’s
efforts to keep XV244 at Kinloss as
it was his idea to secure this aircraft
as an exhibit.
Marc Macrae is a former Boeing 777
training captain, presently working as
parliamentary assistant to Richard
Lochhead MSP in the Elgin ofﬁce, and
I think you all know enough about
me - Stan Barber.
Other key personnel are Jim
Simpson, a retired Nimrod crew
chief, consultant, photographer,
golfer and aviation fanatic, who is our
membership secretary.
Jim is assisted by the irrepressible
Justin Morris, a former Nimrod
acoustics expert (wet man).
p XV244 on Bay 61
Of course the list of personnel
is growing as are the jobs that
need doing so if you want to
join in then just let me know
[email protected]
From The Chairman
I just wanted to say as few words as
possible as I can’t write to… well
you know how the saying goes! I do
want to thank all of you as well as our
sponsors and supporters as without
all the hard work put in to date none
of what we’ve achieved would have
been possible. I know it’s early days
but saving XV244 and getting it set
up on Bay 61 has been no mean feat,
for which you should all be justiﬁably
proud.
Engineering
Hi everyone it’s Chris Herbert here
with a few words on the engineering
front. I’ve produced a husbandry plan
for XV244 and have already signed up
a number of volunteers with relevant
competencies. If you’re not on the list
yet and wish to join in then email me
[email protected] We’ve
started our monthly checks with the
ﬁrst one completed on 11th April,
and though the husbandry team has
a wealth of experience there’s always
room for more. XV240 at Spey Bay
needs work to prepare it for display
and a joiner has measured it up for
a door at the back, which will also
protect it from the environment.
However, we will need a team to
clean it up and prepare it for display,
as well as to do basic husbandry on
it. We also have a number of boxes
of bits from XV244 at Spey Bay that
will need to be inventoried and I’ll
be looking for help with this in the
weeks to come.All volunteers will be
gratefully received.
save Moray’s aerospace heritage? We
do plan for anyone who’s donated
£100 or more, which includes the
membership subscription, to have
their name placed on the inside of
the bomb door of XV244. Steve is
also looking at a ‘Members Only’
area on the website. I’ve produced
some initial membership cards, which
Stan has been helping to distribute
and we may move to something
more substantial later. For now if
you want to get hold of me then I’m
at
[email protected]
My parting shot is for us all to ‘get
recruiting’.
Membership
Though many might switch off at
the mention of ﬁnance, the project
cannot succeed without it. This is
even more important during the
early stages when there appears to be
little help around to get started.Thus
far we’ve been privileged to receive
support from BAE Systems, Ultra
Electronics, Rolls-Royce and Thales
to help purchase XV244, with the
remainder provided by grants from
the Maritime Trust Fund and the SAR
Trust Fund as well as some individual
donations. Membership subscriptions
Hi everyone, it’s Jim Simpson here
with a short bit on membership.
We’ve had a few say that it’s wrong
for volunteers to pay but the
majority accept that it’s going to
take more than good wishes to take
the project forward. Indeed, we’ve
had our ﬁrst overseas application
from an enthusiast (Diego Jiminez)
in Spain, as well as some nearer to
home. Looking at members’ beneﬁts
this will take time to develop but
what could be better than helping to
Finance
also helped bridge the gap between
receiving funds and paying for the
aircraft. However, for the time
being our only income stream is
membership fees and donations. We
plan to attend a number of events with
the front section of XV240, subject
to obtaining necessary insurance,
transport and access requirements.
We are looking for a treasurer to
look after the day-to-day running
of the ﬁnances so if there’s anyone
willing or with experience can they
please come forward?
Sponsorship and Support
As well as the companies and trusts
mentioned above, we’ve also had
‘beneﬁts in kind’ and support from
Spey Bay Salvage Ltd, Johnston
Carmichael, Blackadders Solicitors
LLP Dundee, Visit Scotland, Billy
Miller Ltd, Signcrafts, and Iolaire.
This support has been instrumental
in taking the project forward,
particularly as funds were between
limited and non-existent.
cost, so it is something that will be
pursued further. Turning to the main
project a working group, comprising
representatives from Highlands and
Islands Enterprise, Moray Economic
Partnership, Moray Chamber of
Commerce,
the
Lossiemouth
Business Association (LBA) and
Morayvia, has been working towards
a common aerospace vision for
Moray. The aim was to seek funding
to commission a feasibility study to
determine what Moray could support
in terms of aerospace heritage and
space tourism. Though the LBA
has advised that is has withdrawn
to pursue a community buyout of
Lossiemouth Lighthouse, the group’s
work will continue and I’ll keep you
posted on developments.
Morayvia
at Local Events
Saturday 12th May – Moray
Heritage Connections Open Day
Elgin Library Open to Public 10.30am
-3.30pm. We’ll have a couple of tables
and will be promoting Morayvia as
well as having a few displays.
Sunday 3rd June – Elgin Rotary
Club ‘Motorfun’ - Cooper Park Elgin
– TBC.We’re planning to take XV240’s
section plus other displays subject to
insurance, transport, access, suitable
site, permissions etc.
Saturday 21st July - Elgin BID
Events – Summer Family Fun Day on
the Plainstones – TBC. Again the plan
is to take XV240 out subject to the
usual constraints.
Next Steps
Now that XV244 has been saved from
the scrap-man the focus has changed.
Key tasks are now husbandry,
procurement of additional items
as well as developing options for a
temporary centre, not forgetting
progression of the main project,
which is to establish an aerospace
heritage centre to record and display
Moray’s rich aviation heritage. You’ll
have realised that the mountain is still
ahead of us and the best we can do
is to start planning some base camps
along the way. As husbandry’s been
covered I’ll stick to a few words on
the other elements starting with the
temporary centre. We had hoped
to utilise a building outside the wire
at Kinloss as a temporary centre to
preserve and display some heritage
items currently in storage and also
as a focal point for the project. It will
come as no surprise that there are
few, if any, suitable buildings available,
and a search further aﬁeld has also
drawn a blank at this stage.
That said a temporary centre is
an important step along the way,
if it can be achieved at minimal
Caption Competition
I couldn’t resist a quick caption competition challenge for those with a sense
of humour and even for those without!
Please send suitable (printable!) captions to me and I’ll produce the best one
in the next newsletter.
Any comments or suggestions about this newsletter should be directed to me.
Onwards and Upwards!
Stan Barber
Newsletter by Iolaire (Tez Watson ex-NLS/NST) www.iolaire.co.uk ( 01667 456126
Registered Charity: SC042895 Registered Ofﬁce: Johnston Carmichael
Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers
Commerce House, South Street, Elgin, Moray IV30 1JE