30th January 2009: 558 Scramble

 

Taking place on Sunday 22nd February, father and son 558 club members, Robert & Steven Lowe, from Newark on Trent, who conceived this idea, will be joined by Crew Chief Taff Stone, in one of the Vulcan to The Sky Teams’ Subaru 4x4 vehicles. The club is providing 100% logistical and promotional support.

Starting in East Fortune with XM597 at 00.01 hours, the team will travel the length and breadth of the country, visiting all 15 existing Vulcan Airframes – hopefully within a 24 hour period. The provisional time for arrival at Wellesbourne and XM655 is 9:40 am.

They will be joined on different legs by surprise guests and staged events to encourage them on their way.

558 club members will be acting as coordinators at each location, liaising with the museums involved, creating a presence on the day to welcome the team, as they stop by to change drivers, snap a picture and carry on with their challenge. Supporters will help explain the event and 558's plight to all the visitors, backed up with promotional posters and leaflets explaining the Pledge fund and the many ways people can help save the aircraft. With 850+ miles to cover, 18 hour 50 minutes journey time, it only leaves 15 minutes spare at each location – and that does not allow for traffic. At all times, speed limits will be observed. It is the challenge and raising of public interest in XH558 that most appeals to the team.

All locations have expressed fantastic support for this initiative and we would like to thank them for their encouragement and invaluable help, not only in the planning stage, but in the operation of this event.

The time remaining, progress details and pledges or donations received, will be updated for all to see, together with links to partake in sponsoring of the event.

On the day, a central control room at Bruntingthorpe, “Scramble HQ” will track the team and give updated details as they progress along the route.  Staff there will process Pledges collected en-route and enter onto the on-line system.  You will be able to watch the progress of this event, add additional sponsorship or pledges and see the results as they happen. Official collecting tins and any donations received on the day will be added to the running total.

By the early hours of Monday 23rd February, the club aim to have not only raised a significant level of interest, but a not too insignificant level of further funding!  

Look out for more details of this event on the official VULCAN TO THE SKY WebPages soon: http://www.tvoc.co.uk/