After a short illness, George died on 2nd October 2009.

George was born in Kent but was evacuated to Sutton Coldfield during World War II and stayed in the Midlands. His National Service saw him become the youngest RSM ever in the Royal Military Police (the 'Redcaps'). He later went into engineering and sales, a career which took him all over the world when working for Cosworth. This brought him into contact with companies such as Ferrari and the revived Bugatti firm.

But it was early memories of watching dogfighting Spitfires and Messerschmitts over Kent during the Battle of Britain that fired his imagination and later influenced his modelling. As his skill grew, he gravitated towards the colourful racing aircraft of first the 1930s and later the 1950s. He became a key member of 'Bent Throttles', the Racing Aircraft SIG.

His lasting memorial will be the collection of 8th Air Force assembly ships which he started building because he was attracted by the wierd and wonderful colour schemes. Because of the lack of information then available on the subject, George carried out considerable research which resulted in his building models of all the 8th Air Force assembly B-24 Liberators. This project came to the attention of the 8th Air Force Association and led to his being contacted by many former aircrew. This in turn resulted in his collection going on permanent loan to the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library in Norwich, where they can be seen today.

Our sympathies go to his widow, Joan, his son Anthony and daughter Christine, and their families.

Over the years, this show has been a moveable feast. The first couple of years, it was held in March. We were in the main museum building on one occasion and it was warmer outside than in! Then they moved it to September. But this year, it was held in June.

As ever, the weather was variable - whenever it's held, this show seems to attract a downpour! But this year, it also attracted a number of well-stocked traders and quite a few clubs. The main Robin hangar where they put the clubs was heaving half an hour before opening time!

As with last year, there is no separate competition but instead every model on display is judged. Last year, Joe Bridges was a winner; this year, Andy Keane won 'Best military vehicle' with his Pz.Kfw.38(t). (See the photo in the collection for the Shropshire Scale Models Show at RAF Cosford earlier this year.)

Our regular meeting venue, the Fellowship Hall on South Parade, Sutton Coldfield, has been the subject of a major refurbishment project over the past year. This morning, it was formally re-opened by Councillor Peter Howard (though our own Doug Burchell, as Chairman of the Friends of the Fellowship Hall, has done a lot to drive the project forward but got no recognition for it). (Things were ever thus.)

The ceremony was followed by a display from various users of the Hall, such as ourselves, the Suttton Coldfield Flower Club, The Horticultural Society, The Guild of Artists, the South Staffordshire Bonsai Society, over-60s line dancers and a nice Turkish lady who demonstrated fitness through ethnic dance.

This show gets more and more popular - and more and more difficult to park at if you're at all late getting there. The adjoining Indestructable Sock Factory car park is no longer up to the job!

A crisp, clear Spring morning saw us off to Cosford, and a mega-display by the TSR.2.

To complement the collection showing the year's finalists, here are some pictures from the Awards Night, showing some models not included in the Finals competition (mainly Letter Night competitors). Also seen here are the entrants for the new Ivan Poyner Trophy, awarded for the first time by Dave and Mike Poyner, Ivan's sons. The trophy, in memory of Ivan, is given for the best World War 2 aircraft model.

We had been invited to have a stand at Miniatura, a dolls' house show at the NEC. Never wanting to miss a chance, Roy Poultney, Paul Barand, Peter Mells and I went along, and had a lot of interest.

It was a bit of an experience. The demographic was almost completely inverted from the shows we normally do. Here, at least 60% of the punters and probably 75% of the exhibitors were women; and it was amusing to see the number of husbands being dragged less than willingly around the show. Also, given the propensity of dolls' house collectors to go for the more ornate look, with the Victorian era appearing to be quite popular, it was very easy to get all chintzed out. One guy descended on our stand and the neighbouring Warley Model Railway Club stand with a cry of "At last! A proper Manly corner!".

Dolls' house collectors can spend a lot on accessories - some we saw were very pricy indeed. In particular, anyone wanting the working TV set for their house should probably put their bank manager on danger money. A lot of nice modelling was on display, though. And we made some new friends and contacts, too.