Dear members and supporters we hope you had an enjoyable festive holidays and the new year has started well for you all things considered.
Despite the ongoing challenges of Covid work has now continued on creating a new shop and reception area for the museum towards our main re-opening in the Spring, ( more updates on this to follow next month).
New Rocket and Satellite Exhibition
Volunteers have also completed work our new space exhibition telling the story of the Isle of Wight’s role in building Britain’s biggest space rocket Black Arrow, complementing our full size replica of the rocket on display at Sandown Airport.
The display also features a full replica of the Prospero satellite launched on the 28th October 1971 by the last Black Arrow R3. The satellite is only one to date to be launched by a British rocket and is still in orbit today and is predicted to remain in space for the another 70 years.
The replica was kindly built by the Sea View and Nettlestone “Men in Sheds” volunteers and gives a real sense of how compact this payload was and the instruments and experiments it carried.
Derek Mack – Feb 1933 to Jan 2022
Wight Aviation Museum would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of Derek Mack who has sadly passed away at the age of 88. Derek was one of the lead engineers on the UK’s rocket program working on the Black Knight and Black Arrow rockets both on the Isle of Wight and at the launch site in Woomera, Australia.
Derek also helped advise on the building of our replica Black Arrow, assisting the museum’s project manager Tony Smart with many of the details and key dimensions of the rocket. Derek was also able to attend the museums 50th anniversary celebrations of Black Arrow R3 in October and kindly donated the proceeds from the sale of his book “Black And Wight Fireworks” to the museum. A full obituary can be found via the link below, (opens external website of the Isle of Wight County Press).
Pub Quiz Fundraiser
WAM would like to thanks new volunteer Helen for organising a pub quiz at the Cedar Arms in Wootton on the Island, several teams took part and raised just over £200 on the night for the museum.
School visits to the museum
School Visits at WAM Before the museum closed for the winter we began inviting small school and adult groups for guided tours around the museum and these proved to be very popular. Year 2 puplis from the Queensgate Foundation Primary School, East Cowes visiting the museum. Insert picture of school visit from the Observer.
We are aiming to restart these group visits again in April so If you would like to book a visit for your school or group please contact us via the email below or call/text us on 07949 704052 wightaviationmuseum@gmail.com
Follow us on Facebook
WAM has also reached a new milestone with 999 followers of our page on facebook, if you would like to be number 1000 please follow the link below to our facebook page..
https://www.facebook.com/wightaviation
Become a volunteer
If you looking for a new activity to do in 2022 join our team of volunteers. We are looking for help in a range of areas from the shop, museum guides, display builders, marketing, archiving and administration. If you have experience in any of these areas or would like to gain new skills please contact us via the email below or call/text us on 07949 704052 wightaviationmuseum@gmail.com
Donate Securely using Give as You Live
We are also pleased to announce that we are now excepting online donations via “Give as You Live”. You can donate either a one-off payment or make a regular monthly payment easily and securely by clicking on the link below, which will take you to the Wight Aviation Museums donation page.
We are an entirely self funded volunteer organisation and any amount you can donate, no matter how small is very much appreciated.
