Hi all

Below is an edited version of a posting I put on the the UKRA open
forum a little while ago.

Some thoughts and feedback on the event

The staff at WA were very pleased with this first Rockets and Space
Event and are keen to hold another event next year. With its history
of research into propellants and now very good collection of rocketry
related hardware the staff are very keen to have hobby rocketry
involvement on site. It’s a good fit for them as it interests the
younger family elements and gives people something they can relate to
and hopefully participate in. Have chatted to the staff and they are
open to the idea of a permanent hobby rocketry display of some sort on
site. The event got local and national press coverage an article
should appear in the next edition of the BIS Spaceflight magazine.

Why am I involved - As I was responsible for donating the Foden Nitro
Glycerine wagon and most of the motor/missile hardware I obviously
plugged hobby rocketry and they asked me to co-ordinate that side of
things. I'm happy to do the same again for next year but could do with
some help especially over the event weekend.

An interesting aspect of this years flying at the site was the very
few hobbyists that flew and that was despite quite a few turning up
for the UKRA AGM on the Saturday evening. Normally at club launches
Newbie's and where rocket workshops are held people have lots of
hobbyists with well built and finished rockets to chat to. At Waltham
when a hobbyist did bring a rocket out to fly it caused a real stir
with loads of questions and admiration. It really was noticeable. So
the question is how do we encourage hobbyists to turn up and fly. I am
afraid the range size is fixed - see the safety code. But to be honest
that still left plenty of scope for flying. I had four different types
of saucer and six different 3/4 FNC models all of which would fly
under the range constraints and would be impressive to non
rocketeers.

On the range EARs and Crock being the nearest clubs got lots of plugs
to the visitors. A few plugs for Midland and BK for visitors from the
Midlands.

For next year the suggestion is to have a marquee on the field near to
the range allowing the UKRA and club stands to be nearby to the action
and of course providing wet weather shelter.

Thanks again to those who manned the stands Mike, Rod, Stuart and
Phil. To Paul at Congreve for the loan of the firing stand and Pete of
Jineg for the loan of the GSE.

If you have any thoughts on the event or ideas for future years please
do post them.

regards

Mark

They've got their first item for that display already!  I'd brought
along a model Congreve artillery rocket as one of my entries to the
scale contest.  It went up on an A3-4T and came down on a roof.  (Which
underlines why you don't want to fly anything bigger than a B, and then
only if there's a lot less wind than there was on the Sunday. :) )  As
the model probably wouldn't have survived transit through the post, I
told the staff that they could keep it.  I'd won an Imp motor for my
efforts in the contest, so as far as I was concerned, I'd traded a
model which took me about 3 days to build for a piece of British rocket
history, a good deal from my point of view. :)

For those of you who haven't been to Royal Gunpowder Mills at all, or
for those who only turned up for the UKRA AGM, here's a sample of what
you're missing:
http://sara.rocketry.org.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2546

Their rocketry display alone is worth going to see, and there are plenty
more exhibits for anyone with an interest in military history.  And
because I was entering the scale contest, I got in for free and got to
camp overnight.  Basically, if they're running a similar event next
year, bring something to fly and it's your ticket into the museum. :)

--
        "It'll be fine.  I've done this before." - M. Garibaldi
-------------+------------------------------+----------------------------
  Adrian Hurt | E-mail: A.C.H...@hw.ac.uk    |
              | UKRA:   1026                 | Orangutan in space: 5/8/01

Hi all

There is an article covering Rockets and Space in the new edition of
Spaceflight. It also mentions UKRA the Rocket Workshops and the
various static firings conducted on site over the weekend.

regards

Mark
UKRA