Latest Quest for Funds

[Mayfly]

£800K short fall is what they predict to see 558 through the next 12 months, with half needed before the winter service can go ahead.

[RLN]

Did they say they needed £400,000 within 3 months?

[Mayfly]

Yup before the end of the year.

[Sickbag_andy]

Did they say they needed £400,000 within 3 months?

yes , roughly £4384 per day! why oh why did they wait until she is tucked up for the winter before starting the funding campaign? - only the trust can answer that but I'd love to know. At least whoever said the shortfall on the jolly last weekend would be insignificant was right - I wish they hadn't been! I sadi she should land at Brunty to ensure a good home , just in case.


so it's another winter of worry not least for the ground crew and I hope for their sakes the funding comes in but I still feel the trust have to look at themselves over this one and ensure this really is the last time that they leave it too late.

[Lucas1860]

Did they say they needed £400,000 within 3 months?

yes , roughly £4384 per day! why oh why did they wait until she is tucked up for the winter before starting the funding campaign? - only the trust can answer that but I'd love to know. At least whoever said the shortfall on the jolly last weekend would be insignificant was right - I wish they hadn't been! I sadi she should land at Brunty to ensure a good home , just in case.


so it's another winter of worry not least for the ground crew and I hope for their sakes the funding comes in but I still feel the trust have to look at themselves over this one and ensure this really is the last time that they leave it too late.

Has got to the stage where its getting a real problem? Do you think her days are numbered. 4k per day is a big ask.

Just a thought.

Jim.

[Olicat]

That sounds way too much to ask to be honest, would there be a problem with 'giving next year a miss' and returnig to the skies the year after?

[Dan4th]

What could she possibly need that
requires so many bags of cash????

I don't get that part of it.......

Danf.

[Apollo]

What could she possibly need that
requires so many bags of cash????

I don't get that part of it.......

Danf.

Lots of hospitality parties

[Sickbag_andy]

the description on the official facebook page says 'non- profit organisation' - pretty obvious i'd say!

I hope i'm wrong but I think this is a very tall order and £800000 is just the shortfall for the next year, so what is the total cost? I thought it was around £1.8 million so that's almost half, not good I'm afraid

edit - the forum 'way to raise funds' page says £2m so the trust is 40% short i.e. they only hav ejust over 1/2 of the money required for next season - ouch!

[Sooty655]

For those who didn't receive the email, this is what they say.

Importantly, we want to provide you with information on the work required to maintain The Spirit of Great Britain through the winter and the funds that we need to raise – starting immediately – to ensure that this is possible. Two of this year's commemorative flights were unfunded which, combined with the income lost from missed airshows early in the season, means we don't yet have anything like the financial resources required to start this work.

Our forecast of income trends in this continuing poor economic climate shows we are currently forecasting a shortfall of some £800,000 over the next twelve months.

We have to find the first half of this figure before the end of this year to ensure that XH558's winter service can be started in time for the 2013 season.

This year's service is an 'Intermediate' with additional elements from a Minor* (Minor Star). As with last year, there are a number of critical systems that are 'time expired' so have to be renewed or sent to specialist suppliers for refurbishment.

However, unfortunately, the story on funding required over the winter does not stop there. If we are to achieve a successful season in 2013, we not only need to service the aircraft, but ensure that overheads like hangar rent and insurance are covered right the way through to when our income picks up again next spring.

Once again, we are faced with a winter battle to raise significant amounts of funding. We have achieved this before and there is certainly the determination to succeed. Where we need your help is in spreading the word far and wide. The more people we can communicate with, the better it will be for everyone.

They must realise how desperate the situation is ~ they've started sending me the newsletter, and I've never signed up for it!!

Interestingly, they are not giving any information about the engine situation, or whether they have approval to use the previously removed "spares". So, if they get the money, do the winter service, and pop an engine on the first practice display next year, what happens?????????????????????????????

[Mayfly]

For those who didn't receive the email, this is what they say.

Importantly, we want to provide you with information on the work required to maintain The Spirit of Great Britain through the winter and the funds that we need to raise – starting immediately – to ensure that this is possible. Two of this year's commemorative flights were unfunded which, combined with the income lost from missed airshows early in the season, means we don't yet have anything like the financial resources required to start this work.

Our forecast of income trends in this continuing poor economic climate shows we are currently forecasting a shortfall of some £800,000 over the next twelve months.

We have to find the first half of this figure before the end of this year to ensure that XH558's winter service can be started in time for the 2013 season.

This year's service is an 'Intermediate' with additional elements from a Minor* (Minor Star). As with last year, there are a number of critical systems that are 'time expired' so have to be renewed or sent to specialist suppliers for refurbishment.

However, unfortunately, the story on funding required over the winter does not stop there. If we are to achieve a successful season in 2013, we not only need to service the aircraft, but ensure that overheads like hangar rent and insurance are covered right the way through to when our income picks up again next spring.

Once again, we are faced with a winter battle to raise significant amounts of funding. We have achieved this before and there is certainly the determination to succeed. Where we need your help is in spreading the word far and wide. The more people we can communicate with, the better it will be for everyone.

They must realise how desperate the situation is ~ they've started sending me the newsletter, and I've never signed up for it!!

Interestingly, they are not giving any information about the engine situation, or whether they have approval to use the previously removed "spares". So, if they get the money, do the winter service, and pop an engine on the first practice display next year, what happens?????????????????????????????

If they hadn't done the 2 free sorties + what they would have gained from Cosford? [not sure if they had booked her] Yeovilton and Waddington - [did they miss any others?] would hardly have made a dent in the £800K IMO so the figure would still have been large due to I suspect of items requiring servicing at the 5 year point, at least I'm sure I read some mention of a 5yr point in the past.

[Sploosher]

They have to get the money for the Ve3 project somehow, what better way to have a plea like this to start things off

[Hazzer111]

Similar to last year, we have broken the service down into the major components needed and are offering 'cost shares' to the public as a means of fundraising.

This year, we are repeating the offer of a dedicated share certificate with every order placed, but with the added attraction of two distinct benefits aimed at achieving the funding earlier, rather than later.

Place a single order of £50 or more to receive a mystery free Vulcan part still in genuine Avro packaging from our huge reserves in deep store. (This offer will end on 14th December).

Amass over £75 of shares between now and the end of April to also be included in our Special 2013 supporters plaque, to be fitted in XH558 ahead of the 2013 season. (Due to space restrictions, this is likely to be the last ever opportunity to have your name in the famous bomb-bay of XH558).

Shares range in cost from £20 to £50 and are set out below:

System Cost Shares available Unit cost
Ejection Seats £15,000 500 £30
Braking System £20,000 1,000 £20
Fatigue meters £15,000 300 £50
Lubrication £5,000 250 £20
General Spares £5,000 250 £20
Oxygen Cylinders £8,000 400 £20
Inertia Switches £6,000 150 £40
NDT Inspections £20,000 1,000 £20

Over the next few weeks, we will give you more details on each particular aspect of the service and what will be involved.

We hope to cover the cost of these service components in good time, allowing the aircraft to be ready just as quickly as possible, since if we can get her back in the air sooner, she will be our best ambassador in gaining added attention to the funding campaign.

This last weekend showed how we can gain mass publicity and new supporters away from the traditional airshow circuit yet cover our costs, so we will be looking at undertaking some dedicated fly-pasts to different parts of the country as part of out test-flight programme.

Thats from part of the news letter. Where does all the other money go?

[Bubbles]

Hangar rental, insurance etc.

[Hungry Haggis]

I seem to recall someone I can not remember the name being brought in and then reading that this hand to mouth A***e to elbow scrounging dead end bumbling along fund raising would now be a thing of the past ,(what happened to that ) I also said when I was on the other side that they needed to start kicking bum and raising funds this year for the one after next ,IE instead of waiting every year to start the annual scrounge use the air shows not only to raise funds to fly this year but put some away for the winter/next season.It's a bit alarming to see they are still at the hand to mouth knee jerk .

Then my question is why fly the aircraft for unfunded fly pasts if they have to dig into meager winter service money & then put out that they are so far short of having funds to service the aircraft or even start/continue to fly in the next season.They seem to be blaming the economic conditions for the lack of funds Ok maybe that has something to do with it but They only seem to try to get her in th epress etc when as has already been said she is out of sight ,they are a registered charity are they not they say she is the peoples aircraft do they not .
Seems as always to me that they have got stuck in the Hide her away & now we will hold the public to ransom IE we need your money or She won't fly next year ,we can't do this etc .I'mo i'm not angry I just don't see the point of the way they carry on .I for one hope they get their money and we do not see that the engineers have been put on notice yet again because there is no money left .That in itself must be soul destroying for them to work so dam hard and be under threat almost every 12 months.

The question still remains why do they think /hope they can hold Joe public etc to ransom this way every year .I do not know how to run a charity far from it but surely to successfully run one they need tofund rais all year in more ways than volunteers at every airshow ,like every other charity out there we get bags at least every week wanting old stuff for them to raise funds such as the air ambulance ad at least 1 cancer one They manage and do not seem to be struggling .

RANT over .

Spillchucker is useless

[Sickbag_andy]

might as well copy my thought here as well (posted this on TVCO as some of you may have seen) rather sad approach especially re the future of the ground crew who do such a good job but I'd hate to see her sitting on the corner of an airport unaccessible and uncared for a few years from now when for joe public she will be nothing more than a happy memory:

I hate to say this but maybe at this point there should be a concentration on her long term future and raising funds for that (which hopefully would be much less) rather than trying to squeeze one more season out of her (I'm assuming that the spar mods will make it prohibitively expensive to go beyond 2013 based on the rollercoasters of previous winter campaigns).

It would be sad to reach the point next autumn when there isnt any money in the pot to secure a safe home where she can at least ground run to attract a degree of funding and eithout the realistic carrot of a 2014 display season the donations dry up. I know it sounds negative but she's given us a lot of pleasure over the years and as such we owe it to her to do our best to secure a safe retirement rather than languishing on an active airport where volunteers' access is largely prohibited and she is out of the public eye completely.

[Sploosher]

I think the TVOC are relying on `tried and tested` methods, as it may be the only way they know how to raise the funds required, the time will coime though when joe public will decide enough is enough and refuse to bail them out again.

I am really surprised that they have not learnt from the number of times in the past that they have only just managed to scrape the funds together at more or less the last moment.

Some day they will learn, though sadly I fear, that it will then be far too late and 558 will finally be retired to where ever she is destined to end up.....

[Kermit]

All valid points.

However.
A flying Vulcan is a thing of beauty, something that makes your heart burst with joy as you see her fly past.

But if she does not, she is just yet another museum piece, stuck in a corner gathering dust. If she can taxi she ll be performimg every now and then, the very copy of a caged wild animal.
Never did like zoos.

So as far as I am concerned, whatever the rights and wrongs, I shall donate what I can and help gather funds to see that magnificent aeroplane do what she was built for , FLY !!

We can debate who did or didnt do what when until doomsday. But that wont actually help much....

[Sickbag_andy]

I think maybe a contingency 'final (rescue) flight' fund run by the club or another valid interested organisation might be in order so that if at some point if either this or a future campaign fails at least there is some money available to finance a flight to a safe permanent home before the PTF and insurances etc are withdrawn.

this could be viewed as pessimistic I know but on the other hand planning ahead never hurt anybody (that i can think of) and a knight in shining armour coming to the rescue would be fare more popular than a shy*e in whining armour saying 'dont't want her here, she will have to be cut up'

[Crew chief]

Here we are again same old same old its enough to make a glass eye weep when will they sort the funding issue out?.

cc.

[Bubbles]

What exactly is the "funding issue" ?

[Ray C]

It may be time for Sploosher to call the guy he met back in July, perhaps he would sell
one of his expensive toys to keep her flying.....?

[Sploosher]

It may be time for Sploosher to call the guy he met back in July, perhaps he would sell
one of his expensive toys to keep her flying.....?

i will try and have a word with him next week as I am sure I will see him , so far he has not come back to me.....

I hope that the long term silence will be worth the wait.......

[Dan4th]

I posted this vid many moons ago, and
it got a great reception.....

I hope it does the same today:::::::::::



Embedding disabled?

Just watch it on YooToob!!!!!!!!

Ain't She SWEET???????????

You're Welcome

Danf.

[Exceptionalsleeper]

Without sounding controversial - oh God, here we go! I sincerely apologise in advance for my inability to contain my "VTTS tourettes syndrome"!

I want to see the VTTS become more transparent in the way it SQUANDERS, sorry; I mean spends its funding. Least this way, I would like to think the public would be more inclined to donate more. Afterall, it is the general public whom have or do fund the majority of the project on a yearly basis. Perhaps an audit of their accounts would highlight where the BLACK HOLE lay, I mean the increased expenditure lay?

The Vulcan does indeed give pleasure to all but that day will come when she can not fly anymore either due to airframe/propulsion fatigue or an act of MINDLESS VANDALISM, sorry again; I mean human factors incident.

I agree with fellow people on here, they should be focusing on life after flying rather than wringing another year out her.