Apocryphal it might be, but legend has it that when aircraft builder Howard Hughes was asked to vacate his hotel suite for the next guest, he bought the hotel so he could stay on. It is probably similarly apocryphal that when the owners of heavy metal at Kemble were told they
 would have to leave because the station was closing, they bought the airfield.
Such heavy metal ~ a pair of Hunters, a Jet Provost, a few passing B52's, that sort of heavy ~ provided interesting, if occasionally interruptive entertainment at BAeA's first visit there for the seasons first contests, the Icicle and Newbold Trophies on Saturday 5th April, a date significant not only as the tax year end but also my wife's birthday
 As CD I arrived mid-afternoon on the Friday: no matter how early I arrive, others precede me, so the stunning new AV8 bar / restaurant was already doing good business to the buzz of "I-haven't-done-much-practice-this-winter-where-are-you-staying-can-you give-me-a lift".
Shop re-opened sharp at 0800 on Saturday with all officials, both BAeA and Kemble, present and correct, closely followed by a stream of arriving contestants. At precisely 0900 yours truly provided my usual by-the-book-briefing, introducing Steve Green as Chief Judge, Corinne Dennis as (tyro) scorer and Mike Sparrow as Kemble ATC, plus 7 Intermediate and 19 Advanced / Unlimited pilots.
First flight was at 10.00 but achieved nothing other than to ascertain that the cloud base rendered further flights unflyable. After an hour of "how-was-your-B&B-last-night?" the clouds suddenly parted and the sun burst through (I hate it when He does that), and the first squadron scrambled. Intermediate completed in less than an hour, but Advanced not until 1600. With an 1800 curfew, some deletions from the second flights were unavoidable, so as CD I elected to allow the four highest placed Intermediate pilots to fly in descending order of score, then similarly the Advanced pilots to fly in descending order of score until the 1800 deadline. The plan provided a good incentive to expedite, and by the close of play 7 Advanced pilots had flown the Unknown. Significantly it was this second flight which jumbled the initial order. Whilst at Intermediate Tim Jenkinson held first place in both flights, at Advanced Gerald Cooper in his new Extra 230 stormed from sixth to displace leader Tom Cassells, joint favourite Alan Cassidy blew it and finished sixth, rising star David Copse fell from surprise third to surprise seventh, and those in between stayed in loose formation.
Kemble's AV8 pretty girl Sonya Russell presented the awards: The Newbold Trophy and gold medal to Tim Jenkinson, silver medal to John Dixon and bronze medal to Colwyn Darlow; the Icicle Trophy and gold medal to Tom Cassells (who had already departed to the dark wastes of Yorkshire), silver medal to Gerald Cooper (ditto), and bronze to Steve Carver.
Recalling the "surprise" element of the event, as an innkeeper (Cavendish Hotel on Chatsworth Estate in the Peak District of Derbyshire) I awarded consolations to the two lowest scorers after two flights: Julian Murfitt and David Copse received a bottle each of fine white wine from House of
ARESTI in Argentina!
Eric Marsh
Contest Director
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