Sunday, March 6, 2011

Some good news

I'm very selective where I spend what little spare cash I have, I try not to give to fake charities and I'm quite suspicious of street collectors too, I will support the poppy appeal, Help for heroes and the RNLI though and I'm not averse to helping the PDSA, though I wont help the RSPCA, it's a personal thing with me and should be with everyone. Of the non-charities I have donated too, one was the appeal to raise the cash to get the last Vulcan bomber flying again. £300,000 was duly raised to cover the maintenance costs and it got its airworthy certificate so it will fly again.

BBC.
The last airworthy Cold War Vulcan bomber has been given the go-ahead to return to the skies later this year after passing vital safety inspections.
In 2007, Leicestershire-based Vulcan to the Sky Trust restored XH558, which saw action during the Falklands War.
Each year it needs to undergo strict checks by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ahead of its display season.
In November, the bomber was saved from being grounded after enthusiasts raised £300,000 to meet maintenance costs.
CAA inspectors audited XH558's maintenance operations at its base at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire last month
The aircraft successfully retained its permit to fly, and final tests were carried out on the engines on Thursday.
The trust's engineering director Andrew Edmondson said: "I am proud to report that, thanks to the knowledge of our technical team and the generosity of the supporters who helped pay for the winter service, XH558 is in fine shape and looking forward to her biggest display season ever."
 Now I'm sure there are a few people out there who think my money could have been better spent on abused kids or animals, but you see it's my money and no you don't have the right to tell me how to spend it, I get enough of that from the government and I normally ignore them too, so you have no chance. This is about personal choice and as I'm an engineer and the Vulcan is a superb piece of engineering, that's where my money went, you can spend your money where you see fit, you wont hear me complain.
I'll be at an airshow at some stage in the summer and I'll probably pick one where the Vulcan will appear, it's my pat on the back for contributing, well done me...

2 annotations:

English Pensioner said...

I fully agree with you. The big thing about charity is that you can give money to causes that you think are appropriate, not those chosen by committees of do-gooders. As a retired engineer, I too prefer to support anything that preserves out engineering heritage, particularly if it can be kept functional.
Oh, and under no circumstances will I contribute anything to the RSPCA, particularly since they prosecuted a man for "cruelly killing" a squirrel by drowning it, whilst at the same time apparently condoning the fact that over 75% of our meat is now produced by slaughtering the animals using the halal method of slitting their throats and allowing them to bleed to death. (presumably the 25% not slaughtered this way is pork).

WitteringsfromWitney said...

Damn good post QM and I would echo every word!