STRUTS4U

It has been a real pleasure over the last couple of weeks to receive items of interest for S4U from Struts across the UK. Strut leaders and newsletter editors are actively working to encourage interaction between LAA members, and there will never be a better time for you to check out where your local Strut is based. It’s a good time too to make contact with them while everyone has time to get to know each other in this strange and ‘virtual’ world.

Monthly meetings are being held through social media, with stories, expertise, projects and memories being shared on a regular basis.

From the Southern Strut Tony Palmer writes, “If you are a LAA member and live within a radius of say 25 miles of Brighton and are not a member of the Southern Strut, then ask yourself why not? We have been operating for more than 50 years and were the first area to get members of our

Association (PFA at that time) to meet every month and chew the cud over a drink or a meal.

“We have much to offer, we hold a Strut Christmas dinner, two local fly-ins, talks on aviation related subjects and boast a fair number of inspectors, hands on builders, instructors and even some aircraft importers who are ready to answer your technical questions. You can view our current newsletter and all the old ones at https://southernstrut.org/newsletter/april-2020/.”

Under normal circumstances the Suffolk Coastal

Strut, meets at 1930 on the third Wednesday of every month at Crowfield Airfield Club House, approximately 10 miles north of Ipswich in Suffolk. East Anglia’s only

LAA Strut, their 70-plus members are drawn from Suffolk,

Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Kent. They have a range of interests, experiences and ownership including light aircraft, microlights, helicopter, gliders/powered gliders etc. New members will be very welcome so check out the website for more information, and by all means get in touch as they will be more than pleased to chat: www.suffolkcoastalstrut.org.uk/ email:- coordinator@suffolkcoastalstrut.org.uk or to speak to someone, call Mick Gill on 07834 535290. Improvise

In Oxfordshire, the Oxford Group have been keen to improvise for their meetings. They write, “The Oxford

Group had a very successful Zoom meeting last night. It appears that the free licence arrangement has been extended to well over 40 minutes – it seems to be operating an open-ended time limit and gives you a good opportunity to experiment with it and see if it works for you. One person takes out a free licence to become a host, and then emails the link to all invited members. The member then sees a ‘Join Meeting’ screen, which the host then opens at the appointed time. It’s very straightforward but let’s hope we’re all meeting again in person before too long!”

Other groups have been trying out similar communication methods, the Kent Strut used another conferencing app, Jitsi, for their recent committee meeting and are also planning to hold virtual Strut meetings using similar technologies.

In Scotland, the West of Scotland Strut is used to a Below Southern Strut’s Tony Palmer with his Tiger Moth and mini pedal-plane version.

Struts 4U by Anne Hughes Above Remember certain amount of isolation as a matter of course! Neil camping at the Rally? Geddes reports that they have set up a chat site at A lovely moody shot wscotstrut@groups.io. It is an opportunity for posting from Gloster Strut member Tim interesting photographs of aircraft and destinations and Houlihan of the items of general interest. There is also a quiz, and aircraft park waking everybody is invited to visit the site and join in. up as dawn breaks. On 8 April, the West Midlands Strut held a webinar with Dr Simon Keeling on weather forecasting for pilots. One hundred people registered to view this online with a Q&A after the online talk. As a result, the event raised £600 for the Big Issue Foundation. It is good to hear so many positive stories from across the country and we will share other contributions received from the Strathtay, Wessex, Gloster, Cornwall and Vale of York Struts with you in June’s Light Aviation. Thank you again to all the Struts who have contributed. Most Struts send out a monthly e-newsletter to local Strut members and these are always full of useful information and amazing tales! Do get in touch with your local Strut, they will be pleased to put you on their mailing list. In the meantime, keep safe! We look forward to the end of the present crisis and will start to publish a list of events when they let us all out to play again. Our thoughts are with all of you who have been personally affected and all who are supporting those, or who are themselves, ‘on the front line’. Thank you.

Strut Calendar

As lockdown continues it is inevitable that the Struts are unable to proceed with planned talks for May and, who knows, possibly June. Consequently, as we did last issue, we have removed the planned events from the list but left the contact details so you can remain in touch with the Strut and find out what is happening locally. We will continue to share the Struts4U stories and hopefully things will return to normal before too long. In the meantime, stay safe and make use of social media platforms to keep in touch! I am always happy to hear your news, views and stories so do feel free to contact me at struts@laa.uk.com

Below Many Struts host GASCo Safety Evenings, here Southern Strut’s usual venue of Shoreham’s terminal looks to be pretty well packed with interested participants.

Andover Strut: Spitfire Club, Popham Airfield, SO21 3BD. 1930. Contact keith.picton@ntlworld.com

Bristol Strut: BAWA Club, Filton, 1930. Room 4. Contact chairman@bristolstrut uk www.bristolstrut.uk

Cornwall Strut: The Clubhouse, Bodmin Airfield. Contact: Pete White pete@aeronca.co.uk 01752 406660

Devon Strut: The Exeter Court Hotel, Kennford, Exeter. 1930. Contact: david.millin@sea-sea.com

East of Scotland Strut: Harrow Hotel,

Dalkeith. 2000. Contact: inrgibson001@btinternet.com 0131 339 2351.

East Midlands Strut: The Plough, Normanton on Soar, LE12 5HB. 1930 for 2000. Contact: tonyrazzell2@gmail.com

Gloster Strut: The Victory Club, Cheltenham, GL50 5SY. 1930. Contact: harry.hopkins@talktalk.net

Highlands & Islands: Highland Aviation, Inverness Airport. Contact: b.w.spence@btinternet.com 01381 620535

Kent Strut: Cobtree Manor Golf Club, Maidstone, Kent. 2000. Contact: Brian Hope. bfjjodel@talktalk.net 01795 662508.

LiNSY Trent Valley Strut: Trent Valley Gliding Club, Kirton Lindsey. pilotbarry1951@gmail. com http://linsystrut.wixsite.com/website

North East Strut: Fishburn Aviator Café, Fishburn Airfield. Contact: alannixon297@btinternet.com

North Western Strut: Veterans Lounge, Barton, Manchester, 1930 for 2000. Contact: cliffmort@btinternet.com / 07813 497427

North Wales Strut: Caernarfon Airport, Dinas Dinlle. HEMS Bistro Café 1300. Contact: Gareth Roberts gtrwales@gmail.com, 07876 483414

Oxford Group: The Duke of Marlborough, Woodleys, Woodstock, Oxford, 2000. Contact: LAAOxford@gmail.com www.oxfordlaa.co.uk

Redhill Strut: The Dog and Duck, Outwood, Surrey, RH1 5QU. 1930. Contact: david@milstead.me.uk

Shobdon Strut: Shobdon Airfield, 1930. Contact: Keith Taylor bushebiggles@sky.com

Southern Strut: The Swiss Cottage, Shoreham-by-Sea. 2000. Contact: Tony Palmer palmersfarm@sky.com

Strathtay Strut: Scottish Aero Club, Perth Airport, Scone. Scone Clubhouse. Contact: keith.boardman@peopleserve.co.uk 07785 244146

Suffolk Coastal Strut: Crowfield Airfield Clubhouse 1930. Contact: Martyn Steggalls events@suffolkcoastalstrut.org.uk 07790 925142

Sywell Strut: Aviator Hotel, Sywell Aerodrome 2000.

Vale of York Strut: Chocks Away Café, Rufforth East Airfield. 1900. Contact: Chris Holliday 07860 787801 cwaholliday@gmail.com

Wessex Strut: Henstridge Airfield clubhouse. Contact neil.wilson@laa.uk.com

West Midlands Strut: Navigator Café, Halfpenny Green Aerodrome. 1930. Contact Graham Wiley westmidlandslaastrut@ googlegroups.com StuartDarby stuartdarby134@hotmail.com. or visit our website www.wmstrut.co.uk

West of Scotland Strut: Bowfield Country Club, Howwood, PA9 1DZ. 1900. Contact: Neil Geddes barnbethkng@gmail.com 01505 612493

Youth & Education Support (YES): Contact: Stewart Luck captainluck@hotmail.com

Thank you to all Strut co-ordinators and newsletter editors for the continuous flow of information. You can contact me at struts@laa. uk.com. Anne Hughes. ■