The Club has always shied away from publicising the British (and by inference the World) Championships on the reason/excuse that they do not have public liability cover. Choosing an airfield, such as Kemble, may (or may not...) get around this issue. Perhaps that's what's up here?? Kemble is not exactly a busy field, so closing it for plank-wing ops for a few days is hardly likely to hurt them, and for those plank-wingers who did want to use it that week, there's a great alternative up the road called EGBJ....
The owners of Kemble are, of course, keen to get as much publicity for events as possible, and their original press release in June stated "
The competition flying will culminate in a Festival of Helicopters on Saturday 21st August with a chance to see military and civil helicopters from around the World. Helicopters will be on static and flying display throughout the day: including a static display of vintage and veteran helicopters, some from as early as the 1950’s with many still in flying condition. "
Both Kemble's site
http://www.kemble.com and the 2005 championships site
http://www.whc2005.com are both still listing Kemble as the venue.
Helifun, one other thing. What's this about HCGB events being "much too expensive"? The majority of members are very successful high-net-worth individuals, and this profile of people tend not to consider things as "expensive" or not - they are more likely to look at prices being "worth it" or not, something quite different. The exclusivity such an event gives them (rubbing shoulders with people of their own ilk) means that higher prices are probably OK. If it keeps moaners out, then I guess it's worth keeping the prices up! (BTW, Helifun, did you used to be known as "CountryMember"?)