Oh well, no one else has posted this. Been about for a few hours now...
Dear Members,
1st August, 2006.
This is not an easy letter to write, but I have to inform you, on behalf of the Club Committee, that the project to restore our beloved aircraft, Avro Vulcan XH558, to flying condition, is perilously close to having to be abandoned. This is purely because of lack of finance; nothing else.
You will know that the aircraft went into the hangar at Bruntingthorpe in October, 1999 in the ownership of the Walton Family Company, and considerable numbers of you who were members of the Club from its early days gave or pledged money very generously to finance its stripping and detailed inspection so as to ensure that it was in good condition and capable of being made to fly once again. Dr Robert Pleming came on the scene at this stage and became the guiding light behind the work to convince the Civil Aviation Authority, British Aerospace (as it then was), Rolls Royce, and the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that the project was feasible and should be supported. He also created and submitted the first application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, which, as you know, was rejected. The HLF then assisted Dr Pleming with a second application, which was successful, and £2.7m was granted, this being 66.66% of £4,1m, the other 33.33%, £1,3m, being the matching funding that the HLF required be raised from other sources. You will also realise that a substantial flow of finance, quite apart from the £1,367,000, has always been required, for the HLF have never been able to fund any of the cost of the fund raising campaign itself, nor any salaries or other costs that existed prior to the application being made. This, of course, includes the salary costs of Dr Pleming and the part time staff down in Dorset.
You will also know that it has always been the case that one or more major corporate or private sponsors have been required, for the fund raising capabilities of the Club members and of Felicity’s ‘Friends’ have never been enough to completely fund the project, even with the HLF funding and the free work of the OEMs in refurbishing their components. Even so, we have all done incredibly well, the ‘Buy Time’ initiative producing over £40,000, which was absolutely magnificent. Buy time, though, was all it could do, and did. That sum, though, is small compared with the £1,200,000 still needed to complete the aircraft’s restoration, its ground tests, and its air tests, so that it could be handed back to the Trust sometime in the spring of 2007. Time delays early on, a limitation in what the HLF could provide, and considerable cost over-runs have all contributed to what seems to be a never reducing sum being needed.
I can assure you that behind the scenes discussions that would secure the finance and therefore allow the restoration to continue, are taking place at a very high level, but I have to say that there is no certainty of success. If a major sponsor is not found, then very, very sadly, and with great reluctance, the Trustees have decided that the project will have to cease on 31st August, 2006, as they cannot legally continue beyond that date.
Your committee have met and are determined the story will not end here and we will contact you all in the next few days with plans for the Club can save the Earth’s only flyable Vulcan.
Your Committee
