2011 Forum Meets

[Dave Homewood]

We have had some very successful forum meets in the past and I thought it would be worth having a post here that will have dates, ideas and suggestions for meet ups in 2011.

Here are some tentative ideas:

January 2011
Christchurch and Blenheim
I will hopefully be travelling to both Blenheim and Christchurch next month to do some filming work and I hope to perhaps meet up with a few forumites while I am in those two places. No dates are yet fixed so watch this space but likely to be in mid-late January. Any ideas are welcome but it's likely I'll be on a tight schedule so we'll see how it goes.

Masterton
I am probably not going to be there at all as I'll be working in the South Island but many of you will be at the airshow at Masterton. Perhaps you guys can arrange a forum meet up there, on this thread.

February 2011
Cambridge
Just an idea at this stage but I have been asked several times recently about when we're having another annual Cambridge forum meet. I was wondering what people think about holding it on the weekend of 5th-7th around abouts as it is Waitangi weekend (so a three day weekend I expect). The forum meet won't go for three days, but maybe we some of you can stay overnight and make a proper trip of it and we can meet up on two of the days. Maybe a two day event and informal fly-in type gathering? What do people think? We can make this later in the year if Waitangi is too clogged for many of you.

April 2011
Omaka
Many of us will be at the Classic Fighters airshow at Omaka, at Easter. I hope to be there and I hope many of you can come along to some sort of gathering of forum members. We should arrange a formal meet up I think. What do you all reckon?

Send in your ideas, suggestions and other dates and events that might be of interest.

[oggie2620]

Why dont you all fly over for RIAT? LOL. I will be there working so let me know if youre going as I would love to put some faces to names! Happy New Year to you all xx

[Bruce]

Waitangi weekend is the Great Plains fly in at Ashburton so I wouldnt be around for a Cambridge meet, later would suit me better

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Bruce, well that's not a good idea then. I'll look at a different date.

[Deane B]

I'm Blenheim based, so feel free to look me up at any time Dave

[obiwan27]

I'll be in Wellington from Jan 12 until Jan 26 so might miss you this time around Dave. I will definitely be at Omaka though so hope to see you there. A forum get together there would be fabulous. It'll be my first Classic Fighters - it's a bit like counting down the days until Christmas.

[Dave Homewood]

Christmas is NOTHING compared to Classic Fighters!! ;D

[Deleted]

Rachel has time off work for CF and I am heavily involved in engineering the same for me, but even four months out I'll have a fight on my hands due to others having requested leave already. If I can't get the time off I'm just going to find a job where I can!

[Dave Homewood]

Today I have spent some time restoring and updating a page that used to be on my website but i took off a couple of years back as I thought it was no longer topical and was taking up space. However I've had a change of heart and reinstated is as it is history. It was the November 2004 Air Force Reunion that I arranged here in Cambridge, which acted as the Official Launch of the Wings Over Cambridge website. It also acted as a good way to meet a lot of the veterans who I'd interviewed by phone, and a great way to get many veterans together in one place where lots of friendships of old were renewed. Also very specil on the day was a great talk by fighter pilot Bryan Cox who was born and bred here in Cambridge, and most special of all was the dedication and unveiling of the Air Force Memorial Plaque that I'd had made, which is in Jubilee Gardens next to the Town Hall.

Here is the page with lots of photos:
www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Reunion.htm

All this happened before the forum existed, that was born five months later. Since then we have had Cambridge Forum Meets which have seen aviation enthusasts from all over NZ come here for a similar sort of do, guest speakers, a natter, etc and all based around the website - and these have been pretty jolly successful too. As I looked back at the 2004 reunion the following thought occurred to me.... and I would like to run it by you all for some thoughts....

I would love to host another get togetehr for the WWII veterans. many have died since the 2004 event but there are most certainly still some around, both in Cambridge and in other areas. What would the forum members think if maybe we combined the next Cambridge Forum Meet into becoming also an Air Force veteran's reunion?

Maybe some of you guys who will be travelling from outside of Cambridge might like to bring along some veterans from your area. Many of you will probably know some ex-Air Force types at the aero club, RSA, bowling clubs, and other places you socialise at. They don't necessarily have to be Cambridge veterans like the 2004 event was, but if there are some ex-Cambridge guys who'd want to come down from Auckland or Tauranga, etc, maybe we could arrnage a car pool too, and forum members could become veteran minders.

Maybe Peter's great chaps from the Bomber Command Association might like a day out, maybe even the Dakota could be chartered for it, just some thoughts here. Really I'm thinking we could have a big forum event where people bring a veteran along and give them a nice day out. We could arrange it properly with a meal in a local restaurant, or hire out part of the Town Hall like in 2004. There may be a door charge to cover hall hireage or food or whatever but we can work out these details later.

It would not be too different from what the forum meets have done before although we obviously wouldn't take 90 year olds down to the Rukuhia dump. Maybe we can select a few of the veterans to give a little talk just like we had that at the last Forum meet, (although they were post-WWII war vets). So it wouldn't be too different as I say, but it might give a lot of our elderly aviation enthusiasts and war heroes a day out with like minded people, something really special for them. I know they all loved it in 2004, and I'm sure Ray Tocker (who spoke at the last forum meet) would get behind it as he's our RSA President.

What do you all think?

[11SQNLDR]

Dec 28, 2010 2:10:57 GMT 12 oggie2620 said:

Why dont you all fly over for RIAT? LOL. I will be there working so let me know if youre going as I would love to put some faces to names! Happy New Year to you all xx

I shall take you up on that Dee ;D

I'm doing a wee 'bucket list' trip this year by myself & coming over for both Flying Legends and RIAT so i'll chat closer to the time and hopefully catch up to say 'hi'!

[pjw4118]

Dave , thats a great idea especially as we have vets in Matamata, Hamilton and TeAwamtu and a drive to Cambridge isnt as daunting as to Auckland. We need about 4 to 6 weeks notice as most of our members are not on email so its post and phone calls. Keep us posted.

[Dave Homewood]

Indeed, it will be a bigger one to plan than the usual Forum Meet so it may not happen till after Easter, but the more I think about it, the more it seems possibe.

Maybe our friends at various organisations like NZ Warbirds and Classic Flyers in Tauranga can organise car loads or bus trips for their vets to come along. If we make it open to all Air Force vets it could turn into a really big and great event. Maybe we need to make it a weekend rather than a day? Those that can stay over can do so, perhaps.

I'll do some research and come back to this thread, but in the meantime please bring on the ideas.

[Dave Homewood]

Please can I get some more feedback on this idea. i have done some thinking and made some enquiries, and I think the idea of holding a forum get together here in Cambridge that is also a day especially for WWII veterans is most certainly a viable and exciting ipportunity. however I have to ask what other people think, I do not want to do a load of work and find out no-one's interested from the forum because they are not keen on spending a day with veterans, or whatever. Please can I have some feedback asap on the following:

- If I arranged this eventg for around May-June 2011 would that date range suit people or is there too much else on?
- Are you actually interested in coming along to this forum meet?
- Does the idea of having WWII veterans make it more interesting? Or conversely does it put you off coming?
- Are you happy to pay a fee that will help to pay for the venue hire and the meal? I doubt it will cost much more than last year's meal anyway.
- If you are keen to come is there anything you'd like to exhibit? Models, photos, artwork, your latest book/s, etc?
- Would you fly in to Hamilton? If yes, would you need a lift to Cambridge?
- If you are driving from centres outside of Cambridge, would you be willing to car pool and bring along other forum members or veterans?
- Do you actually know any veterans personally who you think might enjoy the day out?

Please post your thoughts and ideas here now so I can work out if this is a good or bad idea, and if good, I can crack onto the organisation. Thanks.

[ErrolC]

a forum get together here in Cambridge that is also a day especially for WWII veterans is most certainly a viable and exciting opportunity.

I would be very interested in coming to such an event, and the vets add to it for me. A reasonable fee is no problem, and am happy to help with car-pooling from Auckland.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Errol.

[oggie2620]

Jan 4, 2011 7:36:13 GMT 12 11SQNLDR said:

Dec 28, 2010 2:10:57 GMT 12 oggie2620 said:

Why dont you all fly over for RIAT? LOL. I will be there working so let me know if youre going as I would love to put some faces to names! Happy New Year to you all xx

I shall take you up on that Dee ;D

I'm doing a wee 'bucket list' trip this year by myself & coming over for both Flying Legends and RIAT so i'll chat closer to the time and hopefully catch up to say 'hi'!

Please do! If Kiwi Blue (as the RIAT people call Glen Turner) is there then we can have our own forum meeting. Anyone else? Its RIATs 40th Anniversary this year!

[the_flying_surfer]

Dave, I too would love to attend such an event. I would be more than willing to give a ride to any vets who would like a ride down from Auckland. A small fee wouldn't be a problem.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for the feedback Rhys. It will be great to finally meet you. Hopefully we can find a date when you're not on duty. I have an excellent venue in mind, and hope to speak with them very soon about booking a date. I will be looking at May but maybe June if they are booked out in all the May weekends.

[kb]

I'm a starter Dave and the fee isn't a problem. I could bring someone down.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Keith.