The number of people who attended our illustrated talks this year on the Sopwith story through WW1 and on the whole history of the aviation industry in Kingston almost exactly matched the number attending the exhibition. 855 people including 119 children attended twenty-one talks taking the total over our six years to 6,935.

Once again audiences ranged from a Primary School to a Dementia home. We have spoken to industrial history, military history, local history, family history and scientific societies, church groups, Probus clubs, U3A groups including the main Kingston U3A, as well as presenting at one of Richmond’s “Know your place” events. Along the way we developed a new talk on the Hawker Hurricane and the Battle of Britain for a local school.
    A factor in the popularity of our talks and exhibitions is offering people the attractive and informative “Designed and built in Kingston” brochure to take away and share with friends and family. Over the years we have handed out nearly 8,000 and this year BAE Systems Heritage have generously had many more printed to keep this going.
    Research for the weekly e-mailed diary of the Sopwith Aviation Company and its products has become increasingly demanding but with a circulation of almost 700 worldwide it is intended to keep going. With Sopwith aircraft being produced in their thousands there was concern that the research for 1918 could not be completed in time but thanks to voluntary help from Dick Curtis and John O’Dell we now have a day-by-day index to in-service Sopwith aircraft key events throughout 1918. Further research on other less well recorded key events, like first flights and tests of prototype aircraft, will continue throughout the year. This diary can be easily accessed via our website.
    The only addition to our website this year has been updating the “100 years ago” section from the weekly newsletters, but thanks to volunteers we have been making better use of social media to advertise events and broaden the ways we share information about Kingston’s aviation heritage. The website has become a source of information for researchers all over the world and we are able to answer many of the enquiries that come in but frustratingly we do not have any personnel records to help with information about people who worked at the factories.
    Thanks largely to local Councillors we continue to exploit opportunities to leave lasting reminders of the aviation industry around Kingston. We were pleased to be able to provide information and advice this year for the large Harrier model and information panel in the extension to the public library in Tudor Drive close to the Richmond Road aircraft factory site. We are working on some other ideas.
    We expected to dig deep into our limited financial reserves this year for the special exhibition which did cost quite a lot of money. However thanks to donations by exhibition visitors and donations from some of our talks our funds have only reduced by £533, so we are able to continue to fund the website as well as our research and outreach work for the foreseeable future.
    With special thanks to our volunteers, we wish all our supporters and readers a very happy New Year.
    You can get in touch with us through the website www.kingstonaviation.org or by e-mail to kahp2012@hotmail.co.uk