Been tooling around PPRuNe for ages, and only came across this thread today. Was in at the VERY beginning. 'Twas a cold, dark and misty night, and a record midweek number (3) of local waifs and strays had turned up at the old wooden clubhouse at Booker to keep Terry Wedlake, the barman, company. The night wore on and the ideas came thick and fast, (then thick and much slower as the pints flowed), and it was resolved that Manx would get some mates of his and form an aerobatic team, Nick Daniel would do the commentary, and as I was just old enough, I would drive the van. We were all well-pleased that all that had been sorted, and a show (or rather a flop) of hands seemed to endorse it as a good idea, and so we all stumbled out into the night, (it was always a stumble in those days), and the rest is history.
I will always be grateful to Iain Weston for proposing me a few hours in the Stampes every month to stay current, so that when they were away from Booker displaying and one went U/S, Grahame in the tower always knew where I was on the airfield, and I would drop everything and ferry them the spare aircraft. It wasn't long before the spare used to go with them, as Nick got his flying licence, but it gave me a good "in" to the Barnstormers, where I spent two happy and "event-free" years.
Your magnaminous gesture, G-KEST, of rescuing me by lending me the money to finish my I/R at CSE, a result of a post-display chat while wandering along the seafront at Weston-super-Mare, will always be remembered as probably the most significant and considerate leg-up I ever received on my rocky route to a professional licence. Never forgotten.
I was lucky enough to re-meet and work with Rod in TNT in later years and for many years, and its really great to see him active and thriving, as evinced by his posts on here.
I spent a great deal of time with Manx and his family by reason of a dalliance at the time with his god-daughter, and have very happy memories.
What an amazing bunch of characters, one and all, and ALL fondly remembered.