Tuesday 28 September 2010

Festival of Motoring 2010

For the first time ever I managed to catch some of the annual Coventry Festival of Motoring this year, taking in the departure of the motor vehicles from the War Memorial Park on the Sunday and watching a motorcycle display team. The weather wasn't kind but it was an enjoyable Sunday morning.



Thursday 16 September 2010

Nuclear Consent

In August we paid a visit to Airbase at Coventry Airport. It's a 'working hangar' rather than a museum with all aircraft being airworthy or in the process of being restored to airworthiness. The trip was very enjoyable and enhanced by the knowledgeable and friendly volunteer staff. The highlight of the day was a tour of the Nimrod and Joybert Jnr particularly enjoyed sitting in the pilot's seat. The plane was packed with an array of gadgets and intriguing buttons ( the more secret and sensitive ones had been removed by the RAF prior to them handing it over to Airbase ) with the 'Nuclear Consent' one pictured below making me pause for thought.


At the time of our visit the airport had not been granted all of the necessary flying licences so no pleasure flights were operating. The airport is now fully operational and pleasure flights have resumed. Overall the whole experience was a step-up from the nearby Midland Air Museum which is good but not as good as Airbase.



http://www.classicflight.com/airbase

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Freerunning & Folk at the Godiva Festival 2010



After watching the procession on the Kenilworth Road, we joined the tail end of it and made our way into the War Memorial Park. Saturday is the main music day and way too crowded for us so we took in some of the tents and activities in the fun fair area. In the arena we watched an interesting display of falconry, an energetic performance by the "Free Runners" and a rather dull effort by the Cumberland Giants (giant inflatable wrestlers) which was one of those things that looks good in photographs but in reality didn't cut the mustard. Out of these three it was the "Free Runners" who stole the show:



The next day we returned to the festival but this time for some music. Sunday is the most relaxed and chilled out day music wise and not jam packed in terms of people. We spent a good few hours in the Rhythm Tent checking out the folk and folk / rock on offer. When we arrived Greenman Rising were midway through their set. Wish we'd got there earlier and saw all of it to be honest. Rip roaring stuff. A more mellow offering came from Borderline Crossing ably assisted by Will Pound on harmonica. Lucy Ward had us in awe with her stunning voice. On our last visit a few years back we witnessed a great performance by The QP and it was good to see them in fine form again: