NASAM Update as of the 29th Jul 2024

In This Edition

CLICK on heading to GO

Summary of Contents

Short edition this time around, with photos and a write-up from Gary in the “Museum News” section, covering our Family Fun Day, which was on Sunday, the 21st of July 2024. In addition to the photos from Gary, we have a few from Joe.

We have a Paint Team update from Mark K in the “Inside and Outside – The Museum“. Mark is standing in for Barry who has been down with the Covid lurgy this last week or two.

Sneek Peek

Towards the end of this edition of the blog, we have a short video of a piece of navigation equipment in our collection. This has been produced in “3D” and is a test being run by Graham in our Archives section as something he would like to do with other artefacts and exhibits. I have no doubt there will be more on that in later editions.

Events

In “the events section, you will find a poster for the major event we have in August, which is our RAFA and Veterans Day, on Sunday, the 4th of August 2024. In addition to the normal events that happen on that day, it is also the day when our new Honorary President of the Museum, Air Marshal Sir Roger Austin, KCB, AFC, will be present at the Museum. This will be an opportunity for him to meet visitors and volunteers alike and see the Museum in operation.

Pete S

Museum News

General news from the Museum

Family Fun Day

I arrived at the museum for 0825 on the Sunday morning of the Family Fun Day hoping to be the first to arrive! This was not to be the case as Pam V was already in attendance and had unlocked the site in preparation. Two of the vendors were already in the process of setting up their stalls in preparation for the day’s events.

The weather forecast looked promising, and we were hoping that the rain would stay away. Personally I was hoping that it wouldn’t get overly hot and humid as this could force people to the seaside instead! I think that we were very lucky as in the end we had a total of 412 people attend.

Planning for the Family Fun Day had been a challenge that started many weeks earlier. In the end, I managed to secure the following stalls for this event: A Hook a Duck Stall, 2 trade stalls, one selling arts and crafts and another selling fabrics and clothing. I also managed to secure a visit from Fritton Owl Sanctuary, a military jeep and a chap who brought along a vast selection of weapons and ammunition (all deactivated). RAFA were also in attendance along with Bike Active Norfolk, a charity trying to promote cycling in the area. We even had a visit from a 1933 Ford Motor car!

Other attractions included games for the children, A Fun Dog Show and a stand displaying a selection of Meccano. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a flypast from the BBMF which was a shame, perhaps we will have better luck next year!

In the main hanger The Mike Kendall 1940s singers were in attendance and were supposed to be supported by the DJ Flying Fortress Swing Dancers, the inside of the hanger was very warm and humid and as such the dancers were not in attendance.

The NAAFI and the Shop were well supported, and both took reasonable sums of money on the day. I was very lucky in that I had a large pool of volunteers on the day. In total 21 of them gave up their time to ensure that the day ran smoothly from start to finish. One of my primary concerns was that of car parking, I need not worry as the team looking after this did a sterling job of ensuring the smooth access and egress of cars from the site.

Overall, the day proved to be very successful some elements more so than others. I would like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers present on the day because without them the day could have been very chaotic indeed.

The owls from Fritton Owl Sanctuary proved to be a very popular attraction for both young and old alike.

As I write this (26^th July), I now find myself putting the finishing touches to our next big event which is the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum “Brick Exhibition” which is a rather odd title for an event that showcases Lego bricks! More of that and photos in the next edition of the blog.

Gary

(Photos) Family Fun Day – Gary

(Photos) Family Fun Day – Joe

Inside and Outside – The Museum

Information from the various teams

Paint Team Updates

23/07/24 Repeat, Repeat!

“I’m not well, can you do this week’s blog for me please?” said Barry.

“Sure, I can easily copy/paste any of the previous blogs from this wet excuse for a summer” said Mark.

But no! Despite varying amounts of rain during the teams “commutes” it stopped as we arrived and it stayed stopped all day.

But that’s where originality in this week’s paint team blog ends, because after that it was pretty much the same as the previous umpteen weeks:

– Gwen painting the office before moving on to give Bomber Command a first coat. See photo’s 1 and 2;

– Tony cutting and grinding on top of the Sea Prince in his quest to make the old bird waterproof. See photo’s 3 and 4; and

– Ian, Cliff and Mark sanding various flaps, underwing areas, and (for a bit of novelty) the starboard prop and spinner. See photos 4 (again), 5 and 6.

So tired were the team (especially arms and shoulders) that the best conversation they could come up with over the end-of-day cup of tea was the collected movies of Jack Black – Nacho Libre anyone?

Mark K

(Photos) Paint Team Update

Archives 3D Test Video

This astro compass exhibit has been produced as a “3D” video and is part of a test being run by Archives to display artefacts and exhibits in a manner accessible to the public over the Internet. No doubt, there will be more of these videos as we make progress in displaying items at the Museum in this way. Stay tuned for more in upcoming editions of the blog.

Event Information

What next at the Museum

August Events

At this stage, there is just one event to advertise for August. For more details of the event, click on the poster below.

Pete S

The Repeat Info

Here we are in 2024 and the repeat information is still here I’m afraid, and I make no apologies for keeping his section in our blog. We are a charitable organisation relying on monies from the public to keep us going. Any help we receive is gratefully accepted and enables the museum to continue in our mission “To conserve, preserve and promote the history of aviation in East Anglia, whilst providing a fun, family-friendly and interactive museum, promoting education and remembrance of the events of the past“.

Are you thinking of helping ??

We obtain most of our finances by donations and by membership fees. We save money by having a dedicated group of volunteers that keep the museum and the exhibits both manned and maintained. We hope therefore a few people may consider helping in the ways below.

There are three easy ways to help: Help by becoming a Museum Member, also by Volunteering to help at the museum, or by Donating to assist in our running costs. Please click on the appropriate button below to access the appropriate information:

Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER Click to make aDONATION

Keep Up To Date

To keep up to date with further information, please keep an eye on our Social Media (see the Social Media buttons at the foot of this blog) or click on the button below to be notified by email of any upcoming changes by seeing the latest blog.