This, the 8th AGM, was once again well attended although the event was marred by the absence of our Treasurer, Martin Pennell, who at the time was seriously ill. Fortunately he later made a good recovery. In his absence it was reported that the Association currently had over £3,000 in the bank.
Our Chairman, Ambrose Barber, welcomed the Past President, John Glasscock, and Members present and thanked them for turning out on these essential occasions. His annual report would cover the highlights of what had been another satisfying year and reflect on our current situation.
We had continued to have the use of this convenient and familiar Hawker Centre for our monthly meetings, barbecue and Christmas lunch, and we had enjoyed another season of really interesting speakers.
Pleasure was also evident in our occasional outings which included the de Havilland Heritage Centre at Salisbury Hall and a seminar at Bristol marking 50 years of Pegasus engine flying.
The highlight of our jump-jet celebrations was a lunch at Brooklands in November attended by over 100 Members. In all of this we again aimed to organise a combination of socialising, lectures and events for Members.
Among the Associations other aims is to keep alive the spirit and memories of the Hawker Companies and to publicise their achievements. If we, said Ambrose, who were privileged to be part of it don’t, we can’t expect others who follow to know. In this endeavour we could continue to be proud of our Association Newsletter.
However, we know that our “prophets have not been without honour save in their own country”, by which was meant the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, and this despite the dogged efforts of the Kingston Aviation Heritage Trust (KAHT) to which many Members had contributed.
Interestingly, our Association, together with the Brooklands Museum and the KAHT, has recently been approached from within the Royal Borough. (Editor’s Note - David Hassard spoke on this after the AGM and has written an article in this Newsletter).
At the AGM three years ago the possible long term future of the Association was discussed - should it be handed on or wound up? Ambrose hoped that we hadn’t just left the question in the ‘too difficult’ file. The long-serving Committee had put much thought and effort in the month-by-month running of the Association which the Chairman was most conscious of and grateful for. If they were not happy to take this status quo for granted, members were invited to say what more they would like or expect the Association to achieve in the future.
Barry Pegram, our Secretary then gave a statistical survey of our membership and attendances at meetings. Membership, at 388, up 10 on last year, remains healthy and continues to grow and attendances are gratifyingly high at 45 - 70 for the talks with socials attracting around 20.
It was noted that the subscription will remain unchanged at £5 for the time being but there may be a need to raise it next year because BAE Systems have closed their Reprographics Department at Farnborough so the Newsletter will have to be printed commercially.
As there was no need for elections, the current committee members continuing in office, and the financial report had had to be postponed, the meeting was closed and some historic film footage of P.1127 model testing at NASA Langley was shown.