Events and Air Smiles Days
Aviation Dreams Take Off at Kemble
Thanks to the generosity of Kemble Airport owner Mr Ronan Harvey, fly2help were able to offer 10 lucky local youngsters the chance to take to the skies as part of the 2008 Kemble Airport Flying Scholarships. The scholarships were organised in partnership with Kemble Airport, Ultimate High Advanced Flying School and a number of other Kemble businesses, taking place in April.
Over
a two-week period the scholars, who were all aged between
15 and 18 and local to Kemble, were given an exciting introduction
to the world of aviation and the broad range of related careers
open to them within this incredible industry. Based around
5 hours of flying tuition and associated ground schooling,
the scholars spent the majority of their time on work experience
placements with Kemble businesses covering activities as diverse
as Air Traffic Control and aircraft maintenance. They were
also given the chance to visit a number of external aerospace
sites including RAF Brize Norton and Rolls-Royce's Filton
site. A number of aviation personalities gave inspirational
presentations throughout the course of the programme from
backgrounds as diverse as naval helicopter piloting and long-haul
microlighting.
The scholarships proved to be a great success, as summed up by David Young, Airport Manager at Kemble: "The scholarships were a fantastic success by any standards, particularly given that this was our first year! We are tremendously grateful and proud of the way so much of Kemble embraced the vision of the scholarships and were willing to donate their time to support them."
The
scholars each took a tremendous amount from their time at
Kemble and went away with their passion for aviation well
and truly bolstered. In the words of one of the scholars,
the scholarships are "a stepping stone for much greater
things!" At the end of the programme, the award for the
most promising scholar went to Tom Bradburn of Hasfield for
his rapid pace of achievement during training and his constant
enthusiasm throughout.
"After the success of this year we are delighted to announce that we will be supporting these scholarships again for 2009; the whole objective of these programmes typifies the energy and spirit of the charity" said Mandy Pantall of fly2help.
Planning is already underway for next year's scholarship programme which will run for two weeks from 6th - 17th April 2009.