Be amazed, nearly got this up on time. Been a bit hickledepickledly of late. Need more daylight I reckon. A very warm welcome to you and thanks for checking out the site. Hopefully there should be some fresh stuff up (see paragraph two!). We have had a short burst of busyness recently but mainly it is the still the quiet time of the year for us which means other stuff should get done. Sadly we managed not to get to the Icicle, the Black Horse AGM or the London Region meeting to see Rob Bayly’s brilliant talk and slide show on ballooning over London on account of Jane’s dad and carers but all is now pretty much sorted and we did get to the Chiltern Region social in Lavenden which was very well attended and the grub very good. Shame the pub is Greene King but as it happens the Olde Trip on tap was actually most un-Greene King. Not realising the pub was Greene King I asked the barman if it was from Castle Rock Brewery. “No”, he said “Its Greene King.” “Is it named after The Old Trip to Jerusalem?” I countered. “No, its seasonal.” he responded. I thanked him discovering later that Greene King own Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem. Shame that. Tessa Tennant’s funeral was, as they go, exceedingly fine. Godfrey and I attended what was a very fully packed out church in Boldre just outside Lymington. I have to say if it wasn’t for rural type rustic bits of wood pointing in its direction you’d never find it but it is a glorious church clearly much older than it claims to be. It is home to the Hood Commemoration on account that the Vice Admiral Holland who died on HMS Hood was a regular there for many years. The place was packed and the service was truly a celebration of her life. The organist was Tim Rice (not that one) who played brilliantly. The eulogy read by her brother Paul kept everyone amused however Canon Andrew Neaum brought the house down by going on about various teachings and religious stuff but then coming out with “That’s all bollix though, we just need to all love one another.” I haven’t felt so religious since I saw Pilgrims Progress on Lantern Slides in Haversham church. That was that then, we all had a jolly fine laugh and went to Lymington Yacht Club where copious amounts of champagne was drunk. I reckon Tess would have approved.
This time around in the articles section might be something we said will actually be there. There seems to be an endlessly increasing pile of interesting stuff accumulating in the ‘proposed articles’ box so next time it really rains properly I’ll get on with it. For the moment the news has some updates to Cameron manuals and a recently discovered model steam engine that is for sale. There is more news on our favourite saving the planet stuff and some questions plus the usual round up of stuff going on not involving Mr Trump. Trevor found a picture of HMS Starwort along with a book on U-boats which has turned up a most interesting story, ‘Starwort and the Sub’, up soon (no pun intended). Jane’s dog Daisy was a submariner in a former life. Probably an engineer. If I can find the pictures there may also be a piece about thermal flying and why you shouldn’t do it. Geoff Lescott very kindly put together a report on the 2nd Icicle Refrozen, the years’ first meet where they actually went flying! The events have all (or will have been in a trice) updated. There seems to be a lot going on this year which just goes to prove what a smashing year its going to be.
The Dark barn has been busy. Farmer ferrit who has now moved back to his homeland north of Hull left his Lancia Beta 4WD rally car here. We were frightened to bits of scratching the thing but now I am told I’m delivering it this week! The white Corsa fell to lost keys somewhere in the woods which meant Polly and me did an estimated eight miles. Our Pete has stripped out the steering column from the old multicoloured one and all is now nearly back to normal. Not much has happened to the bikes on account still haven’t got the correct bits for the Puch and I haven’t got round to measuring up for the new throttle cable for the Breeze. All in good time. With the Lancia gorn we can get the bike lift down and have a bit of a DFA. 
Plan is to put all the spare parts onto the vehicles we purchased them for which will make a huge difference. I’ve got new locks and a window mechanism for the white Landie which has been on the shelf for onks. Then there is a poorly tumble dryer and all new brakes for the Standard. That’s it best stop this drivel and go and do something useful. Thanks again for a calling by and we hope that the year is going lovely super smashing for you. Front page is Jeff Lawton’s cracking new balloon, there is one of a knackered Polly following the lost key saga and finally a snap shot taken of a wonderous sky the other night up in the woods. Might be the other way round then! Best regards from john, Jane, Chris and Polly.