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Post by trx850 on Sept 30, 2012 15:12:12 GMT 12
Shamus trying to persude Jerry Yagen to help with the Vincent as his next project! Great to meet all who attended today's get-together, and another big thank you to Don and family for having us there again, and Dave for organising it all. Cheers, Pete M. ;D |
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Post by efliernz on Sept 30, 2012 18:51:19 GMT 12
What an absolutely awesome weekend. A huge turnout at the Subritzky farm today - with a few special guests. I'll let Dave talk about that later... but here is a couple of shots to prove it happened. I had my photography Octocopter with me to take the "family photo". Dave had done such a great job, James shouted him a small gift to end the day. Well... he couldn't go flying on his own could he! I'll edit more later. time for a beer.     Guess who's going flying then???   Beer time. Pete |
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jaybee
Squadron Leader
Posts: 122
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Post by jaybee on Sept 30, 2012 19:06:56 GMT 12
Great event. Big thanks to Dave and the Subritzky family for an awesome day!
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Post by kiwi on Sept 30, 2012 20:28:22 GMT 12
Dtto the above from me also .
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Post by baz62 on Sept 30, 2012 22:05:15 GMT 12
A fantastic day and just about fell over when Jerry Yagen and his wife wandered in! He even won some prizes in the raffle Dave had.
Fantastic to meet everyone including a new member (whose name escapes me) whose brother was a member but he had to sign up to be a part of it all. He was from Hokitika so if you are reading this welcome aboard!
And thanks to Don and his family to let us wander about and view their collection and great to finally meet you too Shamus!! ;D
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Post by slackie on Oct 1, 2012 7:29:24 GMT 12
Gutted to have missed it!! But plans changed and I was lucky just to get to the Mossie day on Saturday!!
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 1, 2012 7:47:43 GMT 12
Well done Dave, you guys have had one memorable weekend! I hope Jerry got some good ideas for his next restoration visiting Don's "shed"! Wouldn't a flying Vincent be a wonderful thing  |
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Post by phil82 on Oct 1, 2012 8:14:22 GMT 12
I suspect superlatives to describe the forum meet, indeed, the whole weekend, will just about have run out! I lost count of the number of times I was drawn into a conversation with a"what did you think of that?" after one of the many low runs. The sheer enjoyment of all who were there was palpable! You could feel the vibes. There were a whole bunch of great people there.
The good vibrations continued at the meet, with a spontaneous 'shouting ' by JDK of a flight for Dave, plus a pretty generous whip round. Nice touch that. The hot dog ladies did a good job, and having announced the $5-00 dollar contribution for the bangers was not in fact for them but would be given to Starship, I thought "what a fantastic bunch of people they are". Nice to see so many Skippies turn up, including the pilot of the Connie who told me that after every flight he has to have the smile surgically removed!
A memorable weekend, spoiled only by Jetstar incompetence. Having not flown with them before, I doubt I will do so by choice ever again, and all of those sceptics who rolled their eyes when they heard we'd come up from Wellington Saturday and were returning Sunday were right. The flight was delayed, and one to Christchurch cancelled. Unintelligible announces from Jetstar staff, and an inexplicable move from one departure lounge to another gave me the impression they really need to try harder!
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Post by baz62 on Oct 1, 2012 8:52:20 GMT 12
Yes Dave was overwhelmed when that happened but as James said he doesn't blow his own trumpet so we will have to do it for him!
Thats a shame about Jetstar Phil. We nearly had a much later flight time with Air New Zealand but because we had arrived 2 hours early and we discovered there was an issue with our 8:55pm flight to Christchurch they managed to get us on an earlier flight at 7:30pm.
Otherwise we would have to have had a flight leaving at 10:15pm!
Chatting to the chap at the desk he said it was a combination of the Ardmore airshow, the Wearable arts show in Wellington and school holidays!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 1, 2012 10:27:33 GMT 12
Many, many thanks to Don and Robyn, Steve and Lorna, Jim and Bill and all the other helpers at the Subritzky event who made it all possible and really wonderful.
It is so pleasing to read the wonderfully positive comments fromthose who were able to attend. It was really great to meet so manynew faces, particularly a lot of them coming from far and wide and even many from overseas. And it was super to catch up with many old friends who are regulars to such events too.
It's neat to see these photos from the event, I didn't get a chance to take many so i really appreciate them.
Thanks to our guest speakers, John Parker covering the Beaufort restoration, Gordon Glynn of HARS on their wonderful Black Cat Catalina, Bob Delahunty (President of HARS), our fantastic WWII Mosquito veteran John Beeching, Murray Lane talking about the Vildebeests and Vincnets, and the surprise (to me) speech by my good mate James Kightly (JDK) who said some very nice things about me and the forum. Saturday the Mosquito left me lost for words, Sunday James's speech did the same.
And a great thrill for me as well as everyone else present was the appearance of our rather special international guest, Jerry Yagen. Now this seems to have come as a complete surprise to everyone there, which was nice. Jerry and I had been in correspindance via email for a while and I mentioned the meet to him some months back in case he was free on the Sunday. He wasn't sure then what he was doing exactly but showed keen interest. On Thursday when he arrived at Ardmore we caught up again in person and I asked if he was keen or willing. He was but still wasn't sure what he was doing. On Saturday night Warren told me at the dinner that he was unable to make it and thought that Jerry was headed to the Bay of Islands so we shouldn't expect to see him either. So it was a wonderful surprise to get a call from Jerry while he was en route to the meet at about 1.00pm. He was trying to follwo my map and thankfully he and Elaine worked it out ok and arrived. The only regret is a number of members had by then disappeared, so sorry to those who may have missed out but I didn't really know for sure he was coming till about 10 minutes before he arrived. It was a real treat to have Jerry there, and to get him to say a few words about the Mosquito, and answer the many questions from the floor.
What a wonderful four days I have had from Thursday through till Sunday. It really has been beyond the imagination and I am beyond finding the right words to describe it all.
Thanks to Pete for the aerial photos and the demo ofthe camera-ship. I doubt we'd have ever gotten everyone in without that device. Thanks to Kerry Carlyle for the ride to the event and to Bruce Cooke for the ride home to Cambridge. And a huge, huge thanks to James for providing the amazing joyride in the DH84 Dragon, a really awesome tick on the bucket list. Thanks to Andrew Schooler (Scrooge) for piloting the old girl, and to Stan Smith for making it all possible through his great collection of aeroplanes.
Lastly, many thanks again to Don and Robyn for all the work they put in, and the wonderful hospitality. I really don't think we'll ever get to top this one with future meets.
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Post by obiwan27 on Oct 1, 2012 10:53:21 GMT 12
Many thanks to the Subritsky family for their hospitality and kindly putting on lunch for all us aviation enthusiasts. The highlight of the collection for me was the Airspeed Oxford - purchased in 1947 and going into storage before being 'rediscovered' about 47(?) years later by the Subritskys. An incredible time capsule example of an RNZAF aircraft, literally an "aeroplane in a shed" story. Thank you Don, Robyn and family.
The weekend was incredible overall, everything went right; the weather, the travel, the accommodation, the aircraft and the people were all fantastic. As Baz mentions above we had a great customer service story with Air NZ and I said as we were walking away- "thank goodness that we weren't flying Jetstar".
Thank you Dave for helping to make the visit to the Subritsky collection a reality, along with what must be one of the largest forum meets to date. Your flight in the Dragon was very well deserved. We all know that much of what we see, hear and learn about here on the forum is through your selfless hard work and enthusiasm. We wouldn't be able to enjoy what we have over the years if it wasn't for you. I was more than happy to contribute to James's spontaneous hat collection.
Modesty is a strong Kiwi trait but sometimes we can be too modest for our own good. I think the forum and these sorts of events are proof of what enthusiasm and hard work can achieve. Many people in NZ who feel they are hard done by or have some other grievence with society could learn from Dave's example.
Thanks again Dave, words just aren't enough.
Thanks also for your and Craig Brankin's generosity and help in organising the raffle. As a recipient of two prizes I feel very fortunate to have made the commitment to the full weekend. I've never experienced anything like it.
My only misfortune was my camera going on the blink during the Subritsky visit. I have photos of the air show and our visit to Dairy Flat to watch the Dragon depart and return on its flight, but nothing in-between. Never mind, I'm sure I'll get to enjoy many photos of the meet here on the forum.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 1, 2012 11:08:42 GMT 12
I have just heard from Robyn Subritzky, who says thanks to the generosity of all those who paid for the lunch she has just transferred a total of $400.00 into the Starship Children's Hospital Account. Just wonderful, thanks everyone!
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 1, 2012 15:38:49 GMT 12
I was able to make it after the main presentations, and in time to buy raffle tickets - a great investment! Great to say hi to familiar faces, as well as JDK, who I 'know' from various internet locations. As there was a spare seat in the Dragon I leapt at the chance (feeling surprisingly awake after my timetable of the previous 48 hours).
Jerry Yagan was a pleasure to listen to, and his taking the time to drop by was much appreciated. I didn't get the chance to thank the hosts, so, thanks!
The Dragon was magical. Gorgous day , gorgous plane!
Well done everybody!
PS I may be a bit quiet the next few days as my laptop won't charge or accept power - hopefully a simple fix! In the meantime not only are my Mossie photos on it, but the 3 weeks of European holiday photos!
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Post by Damon on Oct 1, 2012 15:49:03 GMT 12
As usual Don and his team pulled out the stops and made our forum meet another one to remember.A surprise visit by Jerry Yagen was most welcomed! Great to so many of the contingent from the Christchurch area participating in the meet. Talks by our Australian members gave an insight to restorations that were not so widely known to me.A great day!
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Post by beagle on Oct 1, 2012 15:52:09 GMT 12
you lucky lucky bastards.
so i take it, Jerry now has " honourable membership"
sounds like everybody had a great great time.
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Post by efliernz on Oct 1, 2012 16:52:08 GMT 12
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Post by fwx on Oct 1, 2012 19:23:55 GMT 12
How's that beautiful Hind coming along??
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Post by ngatimozart on Oct 1, 2012 19:48:39 GMT 12
you lucky lucky bastards. so i take it, Jerry now has " honourable membership" sounds like everybody had a great great time. My thoughts too, the lucky bastards ;D |
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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Oct 1, 2012 20:48:42 GMT 12
Firstly, I would like to say thanks for organising the visit to see the wonderful Aladdin's Caves. It was a first time for me even though I have had many visits to Ardmore for flying events, and to fly, but I am always on a tight time frame and can never fit a visit in but this time managed it.
Secondly I would like to apologise for the length of the visit as I had many things to attend to before heading home to Mandeville and I unfortunately didnt get the chance to speak to many of the forum memebers and to those I did I may not have said goodbye, very sorry if this was the case.
A very well deserved flight for you also Dave, and the comments by Peter at the Honour Dinner were spot on the mark too.
Well done.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 1, 2012 20:54:58 GMT 12
No worries at all Ryan, it was great to see you both managed to make it along, and I'm glad you got to finally see the wonderful collection there. I'll bet with your fantastic vintage background, you'd love to have a fly of the Vincent, wouldn't you?
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