Events and Air Smiles Days
Lauren x 9 - Air Smiles Day 11th October 2009
Lauren (aged 13) was secretly nominated by her best friend
Chloe (& Mum Louisa) three weeks prior to this event, as Lauren had been poorly and struggling to keep positive.
Chloe, herself a previous beneficiary of fly2help, quickly realised that we were the team to help Lauren and her family smile and laugh again... and that we did.
Nine members of the two families, covering three generations, came together for a special day of adventures and fun for all. Unfortunately the rain also joined us... however, against the odds, the low cloud that we didn't think would lift eventually did so, enabling the aircraft to get airborne on its second attempt of the day. With three excited & giggling children, along with two other family members, they reached for the skies and left their troubles on the ground. The remaining four guests waved madly from the balcony of the Control Tower as they took off.
Those flying, had earlier enjoyed a visit up to the Control
Tower where they had the chance to listen in and see what
was happening, before they themselves would hear the radio
calls through their own headsets. As they strapped in, the
children were given a challenge... fly2help
required them to see how many cows they could count from the
air... the results were: 254 cows, 50 of which were lying
down, two lakes and three crocodiles with big red beady eyes!
It really is amazing what flying can do for an imagination!
A marvellous result!
The four children, ranging from 6 to 13 years, each received a goody bag to help them enjoy and remember their day with us. Each bag included gifts from the RAF Red Arrows, such as team booklets, Jelly Planes & the worlds smallest Kite; Eurofighter Typhoon Yoyo's, Frisbees, colouring pencils and pictures; along of course with the obligatory fly2help Teddybear and cap!
Precious family time was cherished whilst enjoying a full
VIP lunch in AV8 restaurant, which was topped of with sticky
toffee pudding for the adults and Ice-cream sundaes for the
children... they didn't last for long!
Finally, but by NO MEANS least was the fire station visit. This was the cherry on cake of a full day and a treat for all our guests, regardless of age! All inhibitions and worries vanished quickly when our wonderful and 'always up for a giggle' firecrew gave them the full VIP tour; even allowing each of them to try using the powerful engine hoses, needless to say there were plenty of delighted screams and giggles when one Mum realised too late she was downwind of the water!
With firecrew uniforms on, and the chance to make others jump in surprise as they switched the sirens and honked the horns, four bright and smiling faces with grins from ear to ear shone through the appliance windscreen... a tremendous and powerful sight!
Thank you to all those who so generously contributed to this event!
