The 20th AGM followed the usual format and was held on 10th April; this was the 4th AGM that was accessible via hybrid Zoom. Our Chairman Chris Roberts reported:
The Committee recently had their 200th meeting since the Association formed in February 2003. In this time we have had 3 Presidents and 23 Committee Members, most of them serving for over 10 years. Four Committee Members have served continually from the beginning: Ambrose Barber, Chris Farara, Richard Cannon and Ken Batstone.Our Membership number has fallen since the early years, despite continuing to attract new joiners. Any association largely consisting of pensioners will decline in number over the long term. However, we are still very much more up than down. We never quite reached 400, the target set in 2003 so after 21 years to be at about 75% of the peak membership number is a very encouraging situation.
We have progressively updated the Association’s activities and operating methods to keep pace with modern times. We continue to follow our Constitution’s primary aim, ‘to keep alive the spirit and memories of the Hawker Companies, their people and their products’. The main ways we are doing this are:
First, organising socials, meetings and events. This year as an addition to our usual programme we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Hawk. This will be on Wednesday 21st August at Old Sarum in Wiltshire, alongside the first Hawk XX154, now in the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection museum. This 50th anniversary is more remarkable because the Hawk is still widely in service. The RAF has never been without a Hawker Companies product from its formation on 1st April 1918, to the present day.
We have continued and enhanced our hybrid Zoom by improving the equipment and software. Additionally the Association has a private video facility for Members to view talks on-line. Thus we reach enough Members at Kingston, on Zoom and as on-line video viewers to make it worthwhile continuing to arrange speakers.
The second mainstay of the Association is the communication network consisting of the newsletter, e-mail information and the website. All together we have made big savings in effort and cost by going predominately digital. An updated and modern website is presently being planned.
The Third way relates to publicising the achievements of the Companies, people and products whilst preserving artefacts and documents. Our Members have continued to be very active in this area, largely focused at Brooklands museum. Of special note, the Association has had a plaque to honour Ralph Hooper mounted on the wall in their Memorial Garden, where we scattered his ashes.
This year G-HAWK has been re-fitted with the original wing, replacing the loaned incorrect standard of wing. On display at Brooklands G-HAWK is now fully showcasing the work that it was involved in from its production as a Mk50 in 1975. This has covered the development of all other versions including the T45 and single seat version.
We have also been involved in the acquisition and move of the unique (but only partially built) P1121 cancelled 66 years ago in 1958. This dramatic Hawker design is now owned by Brooklands and a plan is being made for it to be put on display. This will be the first time the public will have been able to see the aircraft, because the cancellation directly resulted in Hawkers going down the VSTOL route that led to the Harrier.
The committee is looking forward to another productive year for the Hawker Association. Never short of things to do we continue to welcome any input or comment on our activities or the way we are managing the Association.