Vanguard Workwear - Update

My credit card company has succesfully got my money back.

EPILOGUE:

I ordered the same overalls from C.J. Safety Ltd via Ebay and when the delivery date had passed I emailed them to regarding the non delivery. I received a polite reply offering a better quality product in it's place and that I should confirm that was my wish in a phone call to them. I phoned and the overalls arrived the next day. Excellent! Things don't always go right but when the retailer concerned then takes repsonsibility and promptly sorts it out then I'm happy. Vanguard should have done the the same, they didn't, so in future in it's C.J. Safety for me.

Vanguard Workwear

I recently had dealings with Vanguard Workwear that were far from satisfactory. It seems that others have had problems too - see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2298873

The matter is now being followed up by my credit card company.

The sequence of emails below illustrate what happened to me.

Unlimited Scale Model Flying Competition

On the 11th July 2010 we held the Traplet sponsored Unlimited Scale Flying Competition at our field. The weather was dry but the wind was stronger than we hoped for or expected. There were some other snags too but all the same the event went ahead and was very successful.  The judge, Phil Kent, made it clear from the outset that though this was a competition it was just as much about enjoying ourselves as anything else. The friendliness of the visiting pilots contributed greatly to the pleasure and they were certainly a calming influence on those of us that were new to performing in this way.

There were 11 entries, which is about average for these events and certainly a good number given the conditions. As anticipated the more experienced pilots scored the highest but we were prepared for that with the Dave Cruickshank awards for the highest scoring participants new to scale flying competition.

Thanks to all those involved in competing, spectating and organising. A good time was has by all. Ultimately the greatest appreciation & applause should  go posthumously to Dave Cruickshank as it was he that set out to bring the event to SCRCS and it would not have happened without his involvement. Well done Dave.

Results as follows:

1st place Richard Thomas,  Stuka.

2nd place Collin Terry, Lil Toot

3rd place Graham Green,  extra 260

Dave Cruickshank Memorial Award Winners:

1st place  Martin Coles,  Spitfire

2nd place Pete Daniel,  Extra

3rd place Mike Amphlett,  Spitfire

A report on this event is also in the Best In Scale pages of the October 2010 issues of Radio Control Model World.

Getting Ready For Competition

South Cheshire Radio Control Society is running it's first ever Traplet Unlimited Scale Flying Competition on 11th July 2010.

My friend the late David Cruickshank wanted me to fly his 1/4 scale Stampe biplane in the competition and I will do so. I need some practice but it's coming along ok.

Cheshire Show Success

Together with other members I went to the Cheshire Show 23-24/06/2010 to celebrate & promote 10 Years of the Mid Cheshire Barn Owl Conservation Group.

Our display won the award for the best display in the marquee.

Crack Willow

The crack willow tree in the back garden grew too big so unfortunately it had to go. I was glad that Robert Williams was able to come and do the job for me.

New Designs at IPJ Aeroshirts

Something of a departure from my usual photographic designs, these new ones are more arty with many layers and effects being used to create surreal images over a range of about two dozen products. A few samples chosen at random are shown here.

I quite like these designs and will probably do some more in this style.

MTC Switched On

Sarah Bagnall, the Admin Assistant at Middlewich Town Council contacted me a few days ago to say that she had prepared enough content for the Middlewich Town Council web site to go live and I launched it a few hours ago. This has been a very pleasing project and it's good to see it up and running. (www.middlewich.org.uk)

SCRCS Open Day

Our club (www.scrcs.co.uk) held an open day on 25/04/10 and in the last two events I've flown the SE5a amongst others. This year though the wind was across the strip and just a little too gusty at first. Towards the end of the day it calmed a little so I took the SE5a up several times only to find on some occasions it was just as windy as it had been earlier and it managed fine. I even took the foam ducted fan EF2000 up in a fair breeze and it was ok. So I ended up flying but I wish I'd ventured out earlier when the were more visitors present.

With the assistance of other family members and donations of cakes I ran an MS Society Cake Break stall. The Cake Break is an MS Society annual fund raising event and this year we raised £49.35. A little down on last year but none the less very welcome. Thanks to all concerned.

Photography - a developing interest!

I first took a more involved interest in photography in the 1980's with my first SLR an Olympus OM30, a not so common camara from the OM range which featured a few not so common features including an 'in focus trigger'  and the ability to take early autofocus lenses. I set up a dark room in the loft and had some success with that but by the mid 90's it was clear that the future lay in digital cameras, however they were not yet sufficiently developed and those that claimed to be 'professional' quality were extremely expensive. 

At long last I have a digital SLR, an Olympus E420. It's not a top of the range camera but it does have a lot going for it and is a big step up from the Fuji S602Z bridging camera I had been using as an interim measure. Here's a photo I took of some of the groynes at Happisburgh last February with the Olympus DSLR.