Vulcan Over Whittlebury last year
I know that many of you may not be members or active supporters of the Vulcan to the Sky project, or perhaps you may even have little or no interest in aviation, but you may have an interest in history, and living history in particular.
The Vulcan is very much a part of our recent living history from the Cold War days. If you can remember the days of the 4-minute warning, then that was the time needed to get our initial Quick Reaction Force of V-bombers airborne following detection of an incoming nuclear rocket attack. XH 558 is the last one of those Vulcans that is airworthy.
I am contacting you now as a matter of urgency, regarding the perilous financial situation of the Vulcan XH558 project.
Your help is desperately needed now to ensure that XH558 is not grounded forever on Friday March 6th 2009. All the employees were given notice of termination of their employment a few weeks ago, and Friday is the last day that they will work to keep our Vulcan airworthy.
Unless…
…we can raise a total of £1,000,000 (British Pounds One Million) in pledges before the time is up. This is where you can play a vital part!
We do not need any donation or money now. Strange as it may seem, giving cash now is no guarantee that XH558 has a future, but with a pledge your money is 100% safe if we do not reach our target. Only when the full £1m pledge total is achieved will you be contacted in order to honour your pledge with cold hard cash!
At the time of drafting this, the pledge campaign has already raised £654,023 of the total required, but your contribution, however small, will definitely help to make up the difference.
I appreciate that times are tough; we are all feeling the pinch in this current financial climate, and you are probably having to be very careful with your expenditure. Even so, this really is ‘last chance saloon’ for XH558. Once all the staff have been laid-off and the Vulcan to the Sky project is put into Administration, the chances of XH558 ever flying again are all but non-existent.
Any amount that you feel you can spare to pledge will make a distinct difference to the unique and valuable educational tool that is XH558. Even if it were only a few Pounds, one thousand such pledges would obviously make a massive impact, and could easily mean the difference between XH558 surviving or not.
So, in conclusion, please help. Your pledge, however large or small, can be made in one of two ways:
1. Online – visit www.VulcantotheSky.org click the “Pledge Now” button in the top left hand corner of the screen and complete the form online.
2. By telephone – please call the Bruntingthorpe offices on 0116 247 8145 (Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm) and someone will be eager to take your pledge details. In fact some Club members have just now volunteered to man the telephones until 2000hrs between now and Friday, 6th March.
Please remember that this is not a donation, but a promise to keep XH558 flying for generations to come!
If you should feel unable to make the longer term commitment of a pledge, but could manage a small one-off donation, that would still be a great help in adding to the many small donations being made from all over the UK and even from overseas, and you can also do this via the website or the telephone number given above.
Many many thanks for your continued and vital support for XH558.
A Friend of the Vulcan To The Sky Trust
PS. To see a short video clip of our beautiful Delta Lady, XH 558, flying in formation with The Blades aerobatic team in an earlier fundraising effort at Sywell airfield, Northampton, in 2008, click on this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7624258.stm
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