2008 has started with quite a bang. The new Bomber Command Exhibition was completed on time and successfully opened by our good friend Sir David Jason.
The story of the exhibition and theatre goes back to 2003, when Chairman of Trustees, John Edmonds and I visited the Heritage Motor Museum in Warwickshire. This particular museum has an excellent 1930's film theatre and we both thought this is just what we want for Elvington. Some years previously, former Chairman, Derek Reed (no relation) had an idea to reconstruct an Astra Cinema of the type often seen on RAF camps throughout the world, but Health and Safety constraints and today's visitor requirements meant that it had to be a more substantial structure. The very next year saw John and I once more heading south. This time in a noisy hire van all the way from cold York to South Wales where we had been promised some original Victorian theatre seats from an old church in Newport - could this perhaps have been the last Viking raid?
The Canadian preacher was excited that we were going to remove these old seats so he could revamp his chapel. We were somewhat taken aback however to find that we had to unbolt and dismantle over 150 cast iron seats, pack them into the van and then drive back to Elvington. It was gruelling work but we managed it, and now 4 years later they help provide an extremely popular focal point for our visitors.
In that very same year (2004) Inspector Frost came to Elvington. It was a huge film set with over 100 crew and a mini town set up in the adjacent industrial site. Filming took about a week and during that time we got to know Sir David very well. It was clear from the start that he had a keen interest in aviation and particularly what we did here. The "Frost" episode culminated in a high speed chase sequence through the Museum at night. They had brought in two huge rain machines (can you believe it, rain machines at Elvington!) and three police cars sped through the Museum with a police helicopter flying just above them. In the ultimate scene Frost escapes being shot, but the bullets hit our searchlight, which spectacularly "explodes".
So, nearly 4 years later it all comes together. The theatre seats are fitted, "Inspector Frost returns to us and that very searchlight now plays a principle role within this new exhibition. It certainly took some doing but our thanks go to all who, "against the odds" have created a major national exhibition in probably the most fitting place on earth.
Thousands of visitors have been to see it already and the responses have been excellent. It won't end there of course. More exhibitions are already planned and a new exhibition with our colleagues at the Neville Shute Association is already at an advanced state.
On the other education front, we recently won the Royal Aeronautical Society Centennial Scholarship award for our book "Reach for the Sky". Written for 9 to 13 year olds this "educational resource book" covers topics in the National Curriculum and a new generic version has now been completed which, with input from RAeS, Virgin, British Airways, EADS and funded by RAeS and Yorkshire Forward is to be launched in London this year - the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight in Britain. The book will then be delivered to EVERY primary school in Britain (24,000) thus underlying Yorkshire Air Museum’s increasing reputation for aviation educational work.
It's worth mentioning here that BBC's Question Time was also a huge success here at the end of last year. David Dimbleby and his team were delighted with the facilities and said it was probably the best venue they had ever had. With several tonnes of lighting hanging from the joists in the T2 hangar they certainly went to town for us. Over 20 million viewers saw the show, which gave us a real boost.
On other topics, we completed a huge amount of building maintenance last year with the replacement of windows, doors and repairs to roofs and building fabric, plus a large quantity of painting projects. The environment area is progressing (when not under water) and the new stainless steel recycling plant, known as "Big Hannah" has been successfully installed. The machine, costing over £20,000 was funded by DEFRA and is the first stage of our plans to be the first self sustaining museum/attraction in the North of England. A conference by the National Recycling Network took place this year with delegates from all over Britain and we are already planning new ways to reuse materials and generate our own power. Already you may just detect a whiff as some of the site vehicles are already running on waste chip oil!
Some excellent work by Aircraft Engineering has been shown in the progress of airframes such as the Hadrian, Cadet and Argus. Further work is planned for the Gannet, with every effort going in to get a "blade turning" this year. Thunder Days are proving popular with the Victor and Buccaneer doing their turns for huge crowds.
In our Collections Department, the "unsung heroes of Archives" have been doing a great job in sorting out the ever-increasing collection and preparing for the next stage of our Museum registration process due to begin in June.
A thanks then, to all our many supporters and friends all over the world. This is an extraordinary and wonderful museum and memorial which is going from strength to strength. We survive and operate in a very competitive world against private and centrally funded organisations and still punch well above our weight despite lack of resources. Our success is directly related to what we do and what we represent, so thank you all for your support.
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