Kegworth, air disaster the year 'the wall' came down, so 1989, Leicestershire. I think I must have flown over there now and again when I did my occasional flights to make up my 12 plus hours a year in my flight log. Runway in skims the M1 I believe, reminds how long 737s have been in service too...
Yep, probably not wise, remember Kegworth ?
Dunno, it was a just pre-WW2 field, so must have been cows and stuff before that. Superb runway, landing in just metres in from the M11 which could be tempting to buzz them for fun but would mean big trouble :-(
Sounds great, what was Duxford like in 1917 ?
I once landed during a WW1 demonstration day, we used a different part of the field but coming down in a Piper C among all those ancient biplanes had the hairs raising on the back of my neck. They all had open cockpits too - it was a day when it was nasty, cold wet rain and I had a nice bubble of perspex that scarcely kept me from exposure!
My lad lives about 5 miles from Duxford. I bought him and his lady tickets for the site for a Christmas prezzie. They visited the museums in february and said it was brill.
Yes, good example. I still get the university aero club (who I got my licence with a squillion years ago) newsletter although I have not been up for years and certainly neither with them nor probably ever again anyway. They reported the Norwich possibility as a 'second base' with better facilities than Cambridge and Duxford. Similar here might be possible too.
Yep, something like a sports centre would be good.
I know Norwich Airport was sold last year to the Rigby organisation who intends diversifying. His first ideas of expansion includes a Aviation Academy training school and an Aeropark which will include an aircraft painting facility.
The two gradually expanding shopping centres have killed the city centre and are themselves beginning to get increasing numbers of empty, hard to let again premises. Perhaps a multi purpose sports venue like a decent football and rugby stadium with adjoining athletics field and perhaps a velodrome. That would have potential, the rugby and soccer especially. I have felt like a sardine in the rugby stadium and actually everybody moaned at some stage or another around us.
I wonder if the 'powers that be' have actually sat down and thought about the possibilities of using the site for something other than an airport ? Don't know but something like a shopping centre if the adjoining land is available ? etc etc
Yes...
A little energy would go a long way.
In this case it looks like lack of initiative properly marketing the entire Dordogne. I imagine they sat on their laurels on the basis of a booming past and then when it went the other way lacked the nouse to get off their fat rears to act to turn it back round. Now they are weeping and wailing instead of putting energy into a solution.
Ooh I wouldn't say you are a 'total t**t' BM, but keep practising.....
That's quite right John unfortnately but I find it sad the lack of initiative when it comes to marketing such places. There seems to be little imagination involved when loss-making concerns like airports appear to have fixed ideas without any regard to diversity etc.
This is a bit of an oblique reply but perhaps typifies the matter. Firstly, your place is 'special' so not to compare with most gîtes. Many of them are closing down and more than the property market can cope with are trying to go on the market. A few optimistic but sometimes misinformed people are still buying. It would appear that too many are going under within five years, often as little as three years. Chambres d'hôtes, some hotels and b'n'bs seem to be not doing so well, certainly the Conseil Général who have an economic interest in a bit of everything are also mentioning falling numbers of visitors at some of the superb attractions in the department. I know that, for instance, some of the events at Cadouin nearby have been a flop this year because of numbers. If special markets do not do well then they die, less of those and there is little left that genuinely generates enough income to keep businesses there all year round.
Recently we were in Monpazier. There is a jewellery shop there that is a branch of the one in Beaumont that is owned by the woman who makes the stuff (a friend of Zigou's you might also know). We went in and began chatting with the man in the shop that day. He told us how Beaumont has just gone dead. Whereas traffic used to have to go through the centre of the town down narrow roads and crossing the market square slowly since it has been diverted to one way streets on either side of the town the centre has gone stone dead. The cafés and other businesses are furious because their trade is down. Then there is the parking business, which they have imposed all over the area. Near us in Lalinde and Le Bugue they have imposed time limits since 1 July that would not, for instance, allow people to have a relaxed lunch in the few places there are. There are a few places that are free, unlimited parking but they are away from the centre. Walk around Lalinde and note the number of closed shops, Le Bugue is starting to follow that trend.
The man in the jewellery shop was saying how desolate the centre of Bergerac is becoming, thus suggestion the jeweller move there are a non-starter. On Sundays, he said, it is like a mortuary because it is so quiet. At the same time, as we know from people involved, in Lalinde for example they are moaning because the town is not getting tourists. It irks them to see a fairly constant stream of campers driving through but they are doing nothing to give them the incentive to stop. The tourist industry needs to wake up, think again and then places like Bergerac airport can be seriously considered.
Of course there is a way forward. There are people trying, for instance one SFN member is planning training courses on properly putting up websites. I am sure he will say more himself come the time. I have been helping him a little, so see his idea is great but he is one in a place that needs many more initiatives and perhaps the public funding to support them rather than the people weeping in their coffee cups in Périgueux. So Barbara, it is not a case of anybody disagreeing with you, simply that looking at the bigger picture too many parts of it are blank.
oh Brake Bros!
Frozen this and suivide that.'
But Brian I can see no fog just sunshine!
A little exaggeration about the budgeting Brits!
Enjoy your money everyone.
I was referring to the wine tourism. Not really selling it as such at the airport...
Yes, of course carrying bottles on flights is not the thing...
But carrying from the airport to a gite is....or, a wine club...
Some years back I suggested to several vineyards that they think about
using the empty spaces a little more....and it seems that this idea is
slowly developing.
Some wine chateaux use their space for musical productions, weddings, chambre
d hote and wine/art shops. This attracts more visitors.
Sooner or latter a dog realises that it is better to chase a cat than its own
tail. Then...eventually the dog gets wise...and uses the energy wisely.
Tourism in Bergerac needs encouragement.
There is a way forward....for those who wish to find it
Appetising, but nervous passengers worried about the flight late in the fog (like today) are not going to have much appetite. Anyway, budget flight passengers may well look at prices of decent food and pass. If it is the usual stuff delivered by Brakes at dead of night, then it is a dead duck anyway.
Yes Barbara, but quality wines are probably a far more desirable thing that a bottle or two of cheapo plonk which is what budget travellers will probably buy, plus the weight restrictions and all the other things that actually stand in the way of the wine industry truly benefiting. I entirely see your point but Bergerac as it stands and a major contribution to the wine trade are highly unlikely. Spending a vast amount of money to upgrade the airport without the physical space for a new runway and so on is a serious barrier and with the place running at a deficit we are told do you think politicians are going to dig deep into the department's pockets. I would suspect not. Improving the facilities there would therefore not increase the passenger capacity unless more flights could be added, but then paying the airlines to use Bergerac, which is what is being done at present, would be more expensive, again a risk. They are worried about falling tourist numbers (the income they mean, of course) so before any of that could b seriously considered they actually need to turn tourism back round. It seems to be the classic dog chasing its own tail situation.
There would be nothing better than setting off on a journey with
a decent expresso...or even a lattee....and a slice of smoked
bacon and leak tart [ so rare...and on a slightly chilly morn in late
Sept] to look forward to.....just before the journey.
Imagination, expectation and hope ....
Forgotten in modern life>