David Hassard was invited by Claremont Fan Court School to set up an exhibition covering the wartime use of the mansion by Sydney Camm and his Hawker team. This he did and the exhibition was open on September 9th as part of the national Heritage Open day scheme. David’s exhibition was, appropriately, in the mansion’s drawing room next to Sydney Camm’s office. The well known posed photograph of Camm and Chaplin looking at a drawing in the office was on display as was the even more well known formal photograph of the design team outside the front of the mansion. Two visitors unexpectedly recognised relations in this photo by which David had put a names key list. The exhibition was well attended.
Ken Batstone, organiser of the event reports…
The annual Summer Barbecue was held on June 14th in fine weather with 20 Members and guests attending. Although this number was rather disappointing compared to previous years, it was a little up on last year (18 attendees). As the weather was so fine, the food was served outside on the patio, where there was plenty of shade from the trees. The barbecue food this year was excellent in both quality and quantity and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was generally agreed to have been better than last year. When the meal was finished, most of the attendees continued to sit in the sun and chat with perhaps just a little more alcohol, finally leaving just before the schools emptied out onto the Richmond Road, to avoid the resulting traffic chaos