Bentwaters Annual Gathering 13th June 2009

[Andy Sadler]

What can I say, an absolutely fantastic day out and two flying displays to boot!!
It was exceptionally well organised and was a real treat to meet a lot of people and actually put faces to names..
Carolyn, it was lovely to meet you in person and the fact you had the time to have a chat and express your concern as to my Uncle standing when a wheel chair was available, made it all the more memorable.
Now I have been, it will be on my list of things that WILL BE DONE every year now and I will do my utmost to get as many new supporters as possible.
Lastly, many thanks to Andy (Gatekeeper) for taking my photo in front of ML407 it will shortly be on my desktop at work spread across all 4 screens!!

Can`t wait until next year

Kind regards,
Andy Sadler (supporter no:2219)

[SoundmanJohn]

Agreed in full: a fantastic day, with great weather, good company, good food, great crack (in the Irish sense) and some superb flying from Carolyn. What a wonderfully welcoming place Bentwaters is; I can fully understand why the ML407 team feel so much at home there.

Thanks to all the team for making me feel welcome and especially to Carolyn and the ML407 family, both immediate and extended, who obviously work so hard to make these occasions something to remember.

Looking forward to tomorrow and seeing more of the Cold War Museum. There were convoys of vintage army vehicles on the road as I made my way back to my hotel this evening, so it should a pretty interesting day.

There will be a few photographs when I've sorted the wheat from the chaff, probably with the emphasis on people, rather than planes, as I still can't get the hang of following Carolyn around the sky without falling over!

A really great start to the summer.

Best wishes,

John

[Guy F]

Can only agree with Andy John - a fantastic day, perfect weather, brilliant display and wonderful company.

Carolyn, many thanks to you, your family and the whole ML407 team for a great day.  Can't wait until next year.

Lewis was really sorry to have missed a great day, although he did win most improved player award at his football team awards day.  He has already said, "I'm definetley going next year Dad.  I am not missing another one.

My father was very pleased to take Lewis's place and really enjoyed the day.

The film footage of Carolyn flying ML407 in the museum cinema was brillinat - what's the chances of a DVD being available as it would be sure to be a great way to raise funds to keep the Grace Spitfire flying.

Thanks again

Guy

[wildcard]

I must agree totally with you both - and many others I don't doubt!   

A brilliant day - great weather, great flight display, great venue, and of course the great company! 

I must also add my personal thanks to Carolyn, your family, and all of you involved with ML407 working so hard both in front & behind the scenes - and also to the team at BCWM, with making my first - and hopefully not my last - members day such a special event. 

Carolyn, it was a real pleasure to finally meet you at last.  And to all those I met and spoke to on the day, it all added up to to a superb day! 

"I'll be back"   

Regards,

Mike

[paul b]

 

     I'm going to be lazy for now and just second what everyone has already said, cos I'm to tired to write my own and I'm still at work.

      I enjoyed  three great days at Bentwaters , but I now hate ( my own fault) the M25, well the bits that drag at 40mph. 

                     Best wishes to all   Paul.   

 
       

[James Wheeler]

I have just got home, what a weekend!

Cracking Gathering this year, my first time at Bentwaters and it is a lovely place run by fantastic people.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gathering, the only annoyance being my inability to really help do much because of my back. Every time I looked at picking something up someone shouted at me! lol

I will get some photographs up in due course, I have a lot to go through!

Thoroughly enjoyable meeting everyone I bumped into and apologies to anyone I missed! Next Year!

Glad everyone enjoyed themselves. What a wonderful treat the speech by Bob Foster was! Incredible stories!

[Graham Haynes]

James,
Do you happen to know the name of the other Bentwaters-based Spitfire pilot who was at the Gathering? Carolyn did tell me but after the events of Sunday, I've forgotten it!   
Kind regards.

Graham

I have just got home, what a weekend!

Cracking Gathering this year, my first time at Bentwaters and it is a lovely place run by fantastic people.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gathering, the only annoyance being my inability to really help do much because of my back. Every time I looked at picking something up someone shouted at me! lol

I will get some photographs up in due course, I have a lot to go through!

Thoroughly enjoyable meeting everyone I bumped into and apologies to anyone I missed! Next Year!

Glad everyone enjoyed themselves. What a wonderful treat the speech by Bob Foster was! Incredible stories!

[James Wheeler]

 

Don't remember myself! Was there another one?! 

[Graham Haynes]

Yep. 

Don't remember myself! Was there another one?! 

[SoundmanJohn]

Lots of stuff to add about Sunday, which I forgot in my initial enthusiasm.

Brilliantly organised, even with the huge numbers of people turning up: really friendly and helpful staff and helpers; tremendous flying displays by all and sundry, with Richard and his fellow Dukes in a heart-stopping display of precision flying in those tiny machine (did I see you guys walking the display patterns before you took off?) Another beautiful display by Carolyn, which always lifts the spirits; special thanks to Graham and his crew, including Andrew, who indulged my wish for an interesting recording position; wonderful display of vintage vehicles and more up to date transport as well; the Sea King visit; the Fire Brigade action sequence; the radio-controlled jet-powered model aircraft and much, much more, including the sunshine!

Well done to all and sundry - I hope the coffers were suitably enriched at the end of the day.

Regards,

John

[paul b]

Lots of stuff to add about Sunday, which I forgot in my initial enthusiasm.

Brilliantly organised, even with the huge numbers of people turning up: really friendly and helpful staff and helpers; tremendous flying displays by all and sundry, with Richard and his fellow Dukes in a heart-stopping display of precision flying in those tiny machine (did I see you guys walking the display patterns before you took off?) Another beautiful display by Carolyn, which always lifts the spirits; special thanks to Graham and his crew, including Andrew, who indulged my wish for an interesting recording position; wonderful display of vintage vehicles and more up to date transport as well; the Sea King visit; the Fire Brigade action sequence; the radio-controlled jet-powered model aircraft and much, much more, including the sunshine!

Well done to all and sundry - I hope the coffers were suitably enriched at the end of the day.

Regards,

John

 

               Again John, I totally agree, a brilliant weekend.  Graham and his team did a fabulous job, especially as you say with such a large turnout, already looking
             forward to next year.  What  great displays in their museum, I only managed about ten minutes, so again looking forward to going back. 

             Yes, Richard and co were walking their displays, which for anyone who didn't  know what they were doing looked quite funny. 

              Also looking forward to hearing what you recorded. 

                         Regards  Paul   

             

[paul b]

I have just got home, what a weekend!

Cracking Gathering this year, my first time at Bentwaters and it is a lovely place run by fantastic people.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gathering, the only annoyance being my inability to really help do much because of my back. Every time I looked at picking something up someone shouted at me! lol

I will get some photographs up in due course, I have a lot to go through!

Thoroughly enjoyable meeting everyone I bumped into and apologies to anyone I missed! Next Year!

Glad everyone enjoyed themselves. What a wonderful treat the speech by Bob Foster was! Incredible stories!

   

                James, you put so much time and effort in  behind the scenes, you deserved a lifting free weekend.
                 I could have listened to Bob Foster for  ages, brilliant.
                It was great to see our 485 veterans again, so interesting to talk to, again could spend ages with them.
                It was lovely to see Maggie, Tony and Ann back again, they were on good form all day. 

                    best wishes to all   

                                           Paul     
                 

[Rob MkIX]

Hi,
  I just wanted to add my congratulations to everyone involved on a truly wonderful weekend and especially to Carolyn and the whole Grace Spitfire team. It was great to meet some lovely people at the Gathering and I thought that Bob Foster was a remarkable man and made a rivetting and entertaining speech which kept everyone enthralled. On the Sunday one of my highlights was Steve K and Olivia doing a very good double act on the tannoy, it was much more entertaining than a lot of airshow commentators .
 Anyway well done again and Iook forward to doing it all again next year.

Rob

[Carolyn Grace]

What can I say - it is so very rewarding to read all your lovely posts about the Gathering and the Open Day both of which were a real Team effort of the most extraordinary kind. It would not have worked without the support I had and the confidence I have in our own ML407 Team, Bentwaters Parks lead by Bill Kemball and Sarah Brown and BCWM lead by Graham and Karen Haynes.

Words fail me as emotions cloud my rather overworked brain, but I would like to thank you all for your support in attending both days as without you our efforts would have been wasted.

Bentwaters is, as Jackie Moggridge says of flying a Spitfire, 'Absolute Heaven'.

Catching up on 171 emails in my inbox and a small tower of mail, so will have to make this a bit short on content, but not on sincerity,

with my sincere gratitude

Carolyn Grace