The AGM will take its usual form, with a pie and peas supper for all attendees. For further information (AGM), please contact the Society Secretary, Chris Wood.

The model competition will be organises as in previous years. For information on the type and number of entries, and how to enter, please see page two of the December Newsletter.

This years competition will be judged by Neville Beckett, with the winner receiving the Societies coveted trophy. For details of how to enter and competition rules, please click here.

Following the photographic competition, member Dave Draycott and Ivan Hallworth will give a photographic presentation on recent visits to the USA, Far East and Cuba.

A return visit by Alan, an old friend of the Society, and well known Manchester aviation historian.

Tonight we welcome members Martin Powell and Ivor Tamplin, who will illustrate their presentation with older memories and slides.

This evening we give a warm welcome to Dennis Morley, from BAe Systems,  who will be giving a presentation on the flight testing of Unmanned Air Vehicles. Dennis has previously visited the Society on a number of previous occasions with very interesting presentations on other aspects of flight testing.

'Brain of Rossendale Quiz 2009' -  presented by Colin Duckworth

The winner will receive the Society trophy.

Martin Powell was the winner of this years competition and is seen here receiving the 'coveted' trophy from the 2008 winner, Colin Duckworth.

Thanks to Colin for setting the questions for this years quiz.

Tonight we welcome Dave Ward, who will give a presentation on seaplanes designed and built by English Electric, at Preston and Lytham.

The first part of this evening’s meeting will be a set of slides from Ivor Tamplin of mainly military subjects taken in the 1970s and 80s.  Subjects covered will include IAT's at Greenham Common, Armed Forces Days, Photocalls and RAS Visits.  For the second part of the evening we turn to the well-travelled Dave Draycott whose subjects include the USA, Tiger Meets, European Tour and Woodford without the rain!

Tonight we present ‘The Alan Offer Collection’ a collection of digitised photographs, mostly black and white, taken in the 1950s and 1960s by Alan Offer, who was an engineer with Silver City Airways at the time.  The photographs were taken at various places including Blackbushe Airport and at Idris in Libya, where Silver City operated oilfield support flights.

The collection is presented by Tony Callan, one of our newer members, although he is well known to many of us.  Tony is an ex Woodford man and is active in the Avro Heritage Group and is an active member of The Aviation Society.

‘100 Years of Naval Aviation’ by John Phillips

John was an observer in the Fleet Air Arm, and is a member of the RN Historic Flight. He is involved in the planning of the Centenary Celebrations of the FAA, and is the perfect person to present the history of British Naval Aviation.

‘Luftwaffe over Manchester’ by Peter Smith

Many members will remember Peter Smith who has written a number of books on local aviation history, and has spoken to us on V-1s over the Pennines, and Zeppelins over the North West. Tonight he will tell us about the Luftwaffe raids on Manchester, a topic that most of us will know little about.

Due to a serious family health issue, Peter Smith has postponed this evenings presentation to the Society - the evening will be re-arranged for a later date.

As a result, we welcome Chris Eaton, Ivan Hallworth and Colin Duckworth, who have agreed to stand in at very short notice.

'Classic Jets - Phantoms and Vulcans' - by Chris Eaton

'Cuba and Vietnam' - by Ivan Hallworth

'The Aviation Brain of Rossendale - A Reprise' (due to a technical difficulty on the night of the original competition) - by Colin Duckworth

‘A 20th Anniversary and the Aviation Scene 20 and 30 Years Ago’ by David Blades

David has been rooting through his old slide boxes again to bring us another selection of British military slides.

Matthew is a locally based Easyjet pilot and .will tell us about various aspects of the Easyjet operation and the A319 Airbus

‘Soviet Aircraft 1941-1991 – Part 1’, by Jim Newton

Our well travelled member Jim Newton has made himself a specialist in Soviet Aircraft and tonight will present the first of his coverage of the subject.

‘Aircraft Carrier Battles of World War II’, by Professor Eric Grove

One of last year’s most popular guests was Eric Grove, Professor of Naval History of the University of Salford.  We welcome him back to tell us about the major Aircraft Carrier Battles of World War II.

We start the evening with the 2009 Annual Recognition Competition and after the break continue with a visit to Australia in the Autumn of 2008.

‘Soviet Aircraft 1941-1991 – Part 2’, by Jim Newton

Jim Newton concludes his coverage of Soviet Aircraft 1941-1991.

‘A digital view - real and fabricated', By Chris Eaton and 'A review of R.I.A.T (Fairford) 2009', by Paul Henshaw

A double header for you tonight, with two of our keen photographers displaying their skills.  Chris Eaton starts the evening with a selection of his action shots including some which may not be what they seem!  Fortunately he will show us how he does it.  After the break Paul Henshaw takes over with his view of R.I.A.T. Fairford.  Both our photographers have been winners in our Photographic Competitions and both concentrate on flying shots.

‘Royal Air Force Presentation Team'

A welcome return to the Society after many years, the RAF Presentation Team will update us on current operations and future plans and will answer your many questions.

We look forward to seeing as many of our members as possible at this event, together with their guests.  Please arrive early to enable you to purchase your refreshments before a prompt start at 8:00 p.m.

Visitors are also very welcome.

If you would like to attend the presentation, please write to chairman@rossavsoc.co.uk

Ten years ago Alan gave us a very enjoyable presentation on 50 Years of Spotting – how time flies when you are having fun!

Time to sort out your entries for this year's competition .

For details of how to enter and competition rules, please click here.

Archive of historical evenings and presentations

All Society meetings are held at Haslingden Cricket Club, starting at 20:00 hours. Please try to arrive by about 19:45 hours, so that you can visit the bar and help set-up the room. Meetings normally finish by about 22:30 hours.