Aircraft have been in my life for as long as I remember. When I was a small girl I used to accompany my ex-RAF dad at the weekends to his work as an aircraft engineer in the hangar at Leicester Aerodrome and “help” with the Tiger Moths, Austers, Cessnas etc. I can’t actually remember a time in my childhood when this didn’t happen, and I can’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t passionate about Tiger Moths and our lovely Lancaster! My first ever flight was aged about 8, from Leicester in Cessna 172 G-BBDH.
As an adult I am what I would call a “keen enthusiast”. I love airshows, fly-ins and the like and am a keen, though not very good, photographer. The two go hand in hand! I love history and the two coincided when I spent a period helping at Twinwoods Aviation Museum near Bedford helping to prepare items for museum display that had been salvaged from WW2 crash sites. After about four years doing this an opportunity to help with real aeroplanes arose and I am now involved with the ground up restoration to airworthy of a 1947 J3 Piper Cub. I also help with the maintenance of a Currie Wot biplane and have helped with maintenance of a BE2c. Basically, I love nothing more than spending a whole weekend getting filthy in a hangar which is in stark contrast to my day job as the Building Compliance Officer for the University of Northampton! I am also involved with the RAF Association at a local level and I’m an assistant AirScout leader for 1st Sywell AirScouts. I believe that aviation should be accessible for all and the younger generation should to be encouraged as much as possible because they are our future.