Bomber Command Heritage should take a pat on its back for all its resilience and determination. Although I dissagree about one or two aspects of how it intends to move forward, what it has done, quietly and without fuss is nothing short of amazing.
Bicester needn't be stuck in a time warp.. preserved, conserved.. yes, but with a modern spin and with a proud nod to its past. If you go to places like Northwick Business Centre near RAF Moreton in the Marsh you can see what can be done. Bisto's heritage, its facilities and its proximity to the Silverstone triangle makes it the perfect spot to also be put to productive commercial use use our servicemen's skills and attributes, historic aviation, apprenticeships, learning, passing on knowledge and historic motorsport, as they move into a potentially hostile and incertain civvy career.
Northwick is a small place with a charm all of its own. It started life as an American army hospital, became a Polish refugee camp for more than 25 years after WW2 and has been a thriving business centre ever since. Companies on the site range from metal workers to shoe makers, antique restorers to stonemasons, to car restorers and vintage racers. Somewhere like Bicester could replicate that success on a grander scale. It could give a viable platform to those servicemen in need who wish to work together the chance to present those skills and at the same time preserve the memories of those who died for us in the bombing campaigns of WW2.