www.TheSixAppealWheelGroup.org

Happy New Year

21st December 2009

So 2009 is almost at an end and we look forward to the coming year.

It’s a good job we can’t see the future but it’s sometimes nice to look back over events in our lives – whether good or bad.

I very much hope that most of those events for you personally were good?

The start of 2009 was a huge life style change for me. First in January I relocated back to my old home town of Gloucester after almost 10 years living in the North West. The hardest part for me was leaving my four children in Birkenhead. My youngest was most upset at my leaving but over the last few months we have seen each other and time heals though not cures a situation.

Also in February the MSN group site’s were closed and a migration was made to the ‘Multiply’ site. This was a complete disaster as I was unable to operate this site due to it formatting in HTML which I could not understand. I had in the previous months as a back up started a site on the freewebs site suggested by a member of the group.

In February I spent a whole weekend transferring items from Multiply to Freewebs and found it very easy to use as I did with the original MSN site. So in mid February I advised member to transfer to this site which quite a few did and it has now grown to almost 100 members since February (far faster than the original msn site which took two years to reach 100!)

Favourable comments were sent to me on the site and it has proved very well visited and popular. We ‘lost’ quite a few of the old site members but over time, many have found us and rejoined.

The site offered many new applications including video postings and a web shop. Together with a blog and forum application these have proved very useful and is used by members often.

The group has also aquired two appliances for restoration and display. The first was from the Falkland Islands – a very rare four door Commando and the second, also a Commando formally from Newcastle airport which was donated by Meggitt (ex Dunlop) in Coventry. The Falklands appliance is under the custodianship of Assistant Group Manager John Carter and the Newcastle Commando is with Group Historian Clive Westwood and awaiting restoration. Both were located by me whilst browsing the internet and John Carter took it forward to a satisfactory conclusion on both. Pictures appear in the album site and stories for both on the main site.

The album site has increased immensely due to the collections of several members who have requested albums to display their pictures in. The total now stands at 9,500 pictures of all types, mostly airfield appliances. More pictures are added each week. Thank you to all those who have made this one, if not the largest, pictures sites anywhere for these vehicles. Thanks to Daniel for maintaining the site and updating it.

A meeting is planned in January 2010 to see where we as a group go from here. An agenda will be put together to discuss matters for the future. We have had several articles in the Land Rover magazines and future articles are planned which have given us an even more exposure to the public and has encouraged more people to join the group. When more details are available I will keep you all posted.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to those who have helped the group through the year and who have given me encouragement to improve the group as a whole. I thank all those who display their pictures in the albums for many to enjoy and look forward to more in 2010. I would also like to thank those who have taken on the ‘custodianship’ of the two vehicles. They have dug deep and and put their time into these projects.

It just leaves me to say a Healthy New Year to you all!

Walt

Group Manager/Originator

www.TheSixAppealWheelGroup.org

proposed new Book

 I have been trying for some time to produce a bookdescribing personal recollections of time spent in the RAF / DFSA . Due toa number of set backs the book has not yet been produced however the editorialteam has expanded and with BobFeather Dave Stevenson and Dave Kirk volunteering to help produce the bookthings have already moved on very quickly and the book is now expected to bepublished next year. To date we have about forty stories of varying length butthere is still room for more articles however short or long The book will be ahigh quality record of fire fighting in the RAF something to equal the manybooks written about other RAF trades

Please  try to make an effort and record some orall of your RAF fire fighting experiences. Don't worry about punctuationor grammar that will be dealt with by our editorial team.

 Look forward to hearing from you

George Edwards

Please send your articles / photos to GeorgeEdwards

8 East Close Eccleston Park Prescot Merseyside L34 2RA e mail george.edwards46@virgin.net 

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Thanks Group.

Some members have had difficulty logging in to the album site.

Please check these first:

1. ALL ID & Passwords are LOWER CASE ( that's not capitals).

2. Make sure they are spelt EXACTLY as sent to you originally.

3. Have you had an updates from the supplier of your connection that may have changed your settings?

(The above happened to one member)

4. If still no joy let me know and I'll double check your settings for login. Sometimes when a newer version is installed these are not always re set afterwards (though this is rare).

And finally, a message to all those who regulary visit and leave genuine comments which help us know more about the picture/people in it. For some time now there have been some improper/adult type postings being added, sometimes, en masse and these take time to clear. Thank you to members for bringing this to my attention. However, with some reluctance, I have now had to limit comments to 'loggedin' only .

This is a shame as some valuable contacts/ information has been forthcoming from these genuine comments posted. I beleive I have changed the settings on most, if not all of the albums but if you find any that still have these comments could you:

A. Make a note of the location/album.

B. Let me know as soon as possible.

C. If you are an album owner, attempt to delete and let me know so as I can change the settings.

If you wish to continue to leave comments I can issue a password & ID to you. Just e mail me for this.

Thank you in anticipation of your valued co operation ,information and enjoyment of the alum site,

I'd just like to say thank you to all those who have attended shows this year.

I know it is difficult to make any show in large numbers due to distance, fuel costs etc but I am grateful that the group, as a whole, is 'seen' in many areas, even if it is just a single vehicle.

Duxford was a great success as can be seen from the pictures on the album site. Newark was a nice venue and will be a definate show next year and in coming years.

Land Rover Monthly has given us the only magazine presence with articles etc from the start so I want the group to put it's full support behind them in anything they do. I want them to have 'first' chance for items to do with the group as they have an enthusiastic approach to us.

Two of us at Newark had a little bit of 'real' action when a skip fire developed and the fire marshals asked for our 'assistance' - urgently - to coin as phrase! Myself and Brian attended with two TACR2's, luckily we had our tanks full,and handed the branches to the two fire marshals on top of the skip. This was all captured, on film, by an official photographers, so watch out for these that may appear in LRM magazine?

I must say Brain did a very good job for his first 'real' shout following up as a reserve but then needed to put out the flames. A brilliant team effort.

I am thankful for the practise I had the previous day doing a 'solo' performance in the arena as I had not pumped the appliance for some two years! Both performed well....Me & the TACR!

On a recent visit to RAF Cosford museum I felt it had a nice feel and would make a very nice venue for a 'meet' maybe next year. There is a nice tarmac area between the museum halls, which, when I was there, had a Motorcycle club meeting in progress.

I'm at RAF Woodvale this weekend for the Woodvale Rally with my kids so I hope some of you might be too?

All the very best to you all, Take care on your travels and Thank You for making the group a success in whatever you do !

Walt

Group Originator/Manager

www.TheSixAppealWheelGroup.org