Our History - the first 20 years

by John Gilbert - Branch Secretary

Formation of the Branch

The creation of the RAeS Oxford Branch was authorized by the RAeS Council in May 2003 and was the result of the initiative and enthusiasm of Guy Gratton and Jon Viner who were subsequently confirmed as the first Branch Chairman and Secretary. In April 2003, with the backing of the RAeS External Affairs Board, they had proposed the formation of an Oxford Branch to RAeS members living in the area. An extract from their letter emphasized the strength of aerospace presence in the county:

‘… We think that there is sufficient aerospace activity in the area to justify the formation of a new Branch. In particular: two universities, Kidlington Airport with its prominent air training facility, two major RAF stations, numerous airfields supporting general and sports aviation, and a variety of commercial organizations, large and small.’

Their letter was issued from the headquarters of the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) at Deddington, a small North Oxfordshire village near Banbury. Initial meetings of the newly-formed Branch were held at the BMAA premises.

As locally-based Oxfordshire Society members, David Rowland volunteered to be Branch Treasurer and David Bernard was appointed as Programme Secretary.

Former BMAA Headquarters, Deddington, North Oxfordshire

High Profile Branch Presidents

The Branch has been fortunate to have been able to attract a succession of high profile Presidents ever since its formation. The first incumbent was Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Atlantic airline as well as being a resident of Kidlington; he served in the role for 5 years. He was succeeded by Polly Vasher, a noted globe-trotting private avaiatrix who was also an Oxfordshire resident; like her predecessor, she also served a 5 year term. A few years after his 2008/9 year as the Society’s President, David Rowland, previously a British Airways Concorde pilot, Fleet Manger and Commercial Manager, stepped up to become our Branch President. After more than a decade in post, he retired from the role in 2023. His successor is Lenny Brown, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters (UK) based at London (Oxford) Airport at Kidlington.

Inaugural Gala Event

The Branch’s grand inaugural event in the summer of 2003 was held at what was then the Oxford Centre on Banbury Road in North Oxford. It was organized by David Bernard who advertised it to potential attendees as follows:

‘The Oxford Branch’s opening will be held at The Oxford Centre and will be marked with an Inaugural Reception and Talk entitled ‘Flying - 100 Years of Aviation’, given by Roger Bailey who is Chief Test Pilot at Cranfield University and is currently acting as Chief Pilot & Flying Instructor at The Shuttleworth Collection. The Kidlington Concert Brass Band will provide music of an aeronautical theme during the reception, which will be attended by some 150 people including RAeS President-Elect, Roland Fairfield, and senior representatives of Oxford University who are the main sponsors of this event.

The event attracted well over a hundred attendees. The venue continued to be used as the host location of the Branch’s keynote events and routine lecture programme for a number of years.

The Annual Programme of Talks

The pattern and scheduling of the Branch’s routine programme of talks was quickly established as a series of bi-monthly talks held at 7.00pm on the third Tuesday of every other month. Topics ranged from the restoration of vintage airframes and tales of military aviation to innovative aerospace technologies and the exploration of space. Attendance at individual talks occasionally exceeded 50 but only very rarely dropped below 20.

This years programme is no exception with a wide range of talks with distinguished speakers. Please make the best possible use of the Committee's hard work in organising the programme and support the continued success of the Branch.

2024 Lecture Programme

On the move

Following its use of the Oxford Centre for lecture evenings for some time, the Branch made arrangements with Oxford University to use facilities at its Begbroke Science Park, located between North Oxford and Kidlington airfield. This move had been facilitated by Tony Klepping, the Senior Programme Manager at the site since 2006, who joined the Branch committee. Sadly, Tony had to step down as a result of health issues.

The task of arranging the lecture programme was handed over from David Bernard to Annabel Cook when David was elected to the role of Branch Chairman in 2007. Annabel had joined the Branch committee soon after the 2003 inaugural event and was, for a long time, the committee’s only female member. She was instrumental in the 2013 or 2014 transfer of the routine lecture evening location from Begbroke to the newly-built Magdalen Centre in Oxford Science Park on the south-eastern outskirts of the city.

Annabel moved away from Oxfordshire in 2015, after which formulation of the annual programme of talks became a general committee responsibility. However, its delivery and liaison with both speakers and Magdalen Centre management was taken on until 2022 by Events Manager, Ken Berry.

In order to appeal to the widest audience, the Branch now tries to prepare its annual programme with a talk addressing each of the following aerospace sectors: military aviation, civil aviation, aviation heritage, aerospace technology, space, a young person speaker and a high profile guest for our Sadler event.

Suspension of in-person talks during the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 and the growing membership of Airbus Helicopters (UK) staff on the Branch’s committee led to further changes. Nigel Wright, who by this time had the nominal committee role of Membership Secretary, managed a short series of online talks using the Teams application. However, after an encouraging start with a talk on the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, online access proved to have little attraction for Branch members. When in-person talks became possible again in 2022, the Branch took up Oxford Airport’s offer of free use of its well-equipped lecture theatre as the new home for Branch talks and brought forward the scheduled start time to 6.00pm. The voluntary contribution of £2 from attendees towards Branch expenses had remained unchanged for many years, but was increased to £3 in 2023 to reflect the ravages of inflation.

Named Lecture and Dinner

The Branch’s keynote annual event is the Sadler named lecture which has, since its early days, been held in association with a formal dinner. The event’s name is associated with James Sadler, a resident of Oxford, who was an aviation pioneer being the first Englishman to pilot a balloon ascent in 1784.

David Bernard organized the first Sadler Lecture and Dinner with Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown as guest speaker. David Eagles, a former test pilot, organized the second with his BAe colleague, Mark Bowman, his successor as Tornado test pilot, as guest speaker. Until 2014, the Sadler dinner had the formality of being a black-tie event.

It soon became apparent that delivering our flagship event required a dedicated committee member and Dick Gould stepped forward to organize a number of outstanding Sadler events, initially at the Oxford Centre before moving it to the appropriately-named Sadler Brasserie on Oxford Science Park, alongside the Magdalen Centre.

In 2015, John Gilbert took over the Sadler Coordination role continuing the engagement of some high profile guest speakers. In 2019, the recruitment of Akash Trevedi, a postgraduate student at Wolfson College, as the Young Persons Representative on the Branch committee, provided the opportunity to move the Sadler event to this Oxford University venue with its excellent lecture theatre and catering facilities.

The COVID pandemic inevitably led to the suspension of Sadler events in 2020 and 2021. However, they were able to resume in 2022 before John handed over the organizing role to Nigel Wright for the 2023 event at Wolfson College.

Sadler Brasserie, Oxford Science Park

Wolfson College Haldane Dining room

Wolfson College Lecture Theatre

Visits Programme

The Branch’s programme of talks has been supplemented by occasional visits to locations of significant aviation activity or interest. Colin Wood was the committee member responsible for arranging these events until his untimely death due to COVID during the pandemic. He successfully organized group excursion to many aviation heritage centres. These included the RAF Museum at Cosford and its reserve collection at Stafford, the DeHavilland museum at Hatfield, the Trenchard Museum at RAF Halton and the Rolls Royce aero-engine and aviation heritage collections in Bristol. Current aviation activity was also covered by visits to RAF Benson and Martin Baker’s ejection seat manufacturing premises. Like the lecture programme, responsibility for arranging visits is now delegated to individual committee members using their network links.

Since the COVID hiatus, the Branch enjoyed a successful joint visit alongside the Swindon Branch of the IMechE to the UK Space Agency’s test facilities on its Harwell campus.

Outreach to the Oxfordshire Community

The core membership of the Oxford Branch has relied, for much of its existence, on an ageing cohort of stalwarts who had enjoyed careers in the RAF or in civil aviation or aerospace industry. Outreach to the younger generations has only achieved limited success.

Oxford and Oxford Brooks Universities are rich, local sources of young people but their engagement in RAeS Branch activities has been a struggle. Oxford University’s co-sponsorship of the Branch launch event and use of its Begbroke facilities did not result in significant interest from students. However, a more successful link with Oxford University’s student-led AerOx Society was achieved for a couple of years before COVID struck. That society has subsequently folded, but its last organizer, Yana Lishkova, has maintained her relationship with the Branch as the Young Persons Representative on the committee.

Engagement with Oxford University Air Squadron and Oxfordshire Air Cadets units has proved equally challenging. However, a recent outreach initiative resulted in the establishment of an ongoing link with the Chipping Norton Air Cadet Squadron.

At the schools level, Colin Wood, with his expertise of a long career in flight simulation, was a key volunteer member of the team providing hands-on STEM experience to numerous groups of schoolchildren visiting RAF Halton. Airbus Helicopters (UK) employees on the Branch committee also plan to stimulate the company’s STEM outreach into the Oxfordshire schools community.

The transfer of the Branch’s hub to Kidlington has also stimulated greater interest from Airbus Helicopters (UK) employees and those working for other commercial enterprises based at London (Oxford) Airport.

Oxfordshire is home to, or is at least represented, by a number of significant RAeS Corporate Partner organizations. Some, notably Reaction Engines and RAF Brize Norton, have provided speakers for our lecture programme over the years, but these organizations as a body appear to have little interest in engaging at RAeS Branch level.

History of the Branch Committee

The original Branch committee comprised Guy Gratton (Chairman), Jon Viner (Secretary), David Rowland (Treasurer) and David Bernard (Programme). They were soon joined by Annabel Cook who later assumed programme responsibilities when David Bernard was elected as Chairman in 2007. David remained Branch Chairman for the next fifteen years before retiring from the position at the end of 2022. For the short period before the May 2023 Branch AGM, John Gilbert undertook the interim Chairman’s role until Nigel Wright was elected to the position.

When Jon Viner moved away, Nigel Randall took on the Secretary role; he remained in post until 2018 when Andrew Dann, a lecturer at Oxford University’s Engineering Department served for a short period before returning to New Zealand. His successor was Coraline Dalibot establishing a link with the Harwell space community. She was, in turn, succeeded by John Gilbert in 2023 after his stints as the Sadler Coordinator and interim Chairman. David Rowland’s tenure as Treasurer continued through his period as President-Elect, President and Past-President of the Society, but he later handed over to Kingsley Irwin, a qualified accountant. Kingsley passed away in 2022 after which Jane Rees took up the role. An additional post of Membership Secretary was created early in the life of the Branch to manage membership administration. This role was undertaken for many years by Bob Burrage until he was superseded by Nigel Wright in 2018. This dedicated role lapsed when Nigel became Branch Chairman.

Military, young persons’ and industrial liaison roles have each played an important part in the Branch committee. For most of the past two decades, the committee membership has included a number of retired RAF officers – David Bernard (Supply Branch), John Gilbert (Engineer Branch), Dick Gould (Maritime Pilot) and Nigel Randall (Fastjet Navigator). However, the Branch has recently engaged a series of younger serving officers from RAF Brize Norton to strengthen the military link. Inevitably, service requirements lead to a high turnover, but the current incumbent, Cameron Stewart, is working hard to achieve greater traction with the RAF and resident contractors at both RAF Brize Norton and RAF Benson.

The first incumbent of the Young Persons Representative role aimed at improving university liaison was Ioannis Vagias, a young Greek Air Force officer based at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham. His successors had more local connections with Oxford University and its AerOx student society. Yana Lishkova has now held this role since pre-COVID days, but her tenure will inevitably end when she completes her DPhil studies.

The Industrial liaison role has focused on Airbus Helicopters (UK) employees, but is tasked with establishing a network of relationships with other commercial aerospace organisations and linking up with Oxfordshire IMechE and IET committees and activities. The first incumbent, Martin Creber, joined the committee in 2015, but within a couple of years had moved away to new employment. He was succeeded by Richard Atack who has remained in the role. Martin and Richard’s appointments quickly led to much greater current or previous company representation on the Branch committee. By 2023, Lenny Brown had become Branch President, Nigel Wright was Branch Chairman, Jane Rees was Treasurer and Arbnor Emeni had helped the Branch embrace the digital communication age.

The resumption of Branch activities post-COVID, led to a raft of committee changes. Colin Wood and Kingsley Irwin had died, Ken Berry had withdrawn for family reasons and Coraline Dalibot had withdrawn for workplace priorities. This upheaval and the drive to attract the younger generations to the Society and Branch activities led to a review of Branch’s aims and objectives, the creation of an action plan and restructuring of the Branch committee. In addition to the core Branch officer roles, the committee’s remaining members were designated as representatives responsible for engagement with individual aerospace sectors covering young persons, aerospace industries, pilot training, aviation operations, the Armed Forces and Air Cadets

From Paper into the Digital Age

When the Oxford Branch was formed, communication by letter was often the order of the day, although emails and fax transmission had by then gained an unstoppable foothold. Since then, the Internet, social media and the Society’s obligations to comply with GDPR data security measures have transformed the Branch’s communications channels. Mailshots to members are now a thing of the past. Attractive monthly Branch Newsletters are compiled by Nigel Wright using a digital template and distributed using the Society’s dot-digital application. Advertising of forthcoming Branch events is also distributed via LinkedIn and all Sadler event administration is undertaken online. The Society’s website has become its principal information hub and the Branch has recently contributed its own attractively populated webpage accessible through the Society portal

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