Perrywoods Nursery - Sunday 1st April 07

It was a lovely bright sunny day with a fair amount of wind. We arrived about midday and Stan and Vera, Maurice and Glenda were already there enjoying Perrywoods gastronomic delights. Sandra and Ernie had also arrived, it was lovely to see Sandra as she had not been too well recently. We wish you well Sandra and hope you get better very soon. Up went the Banner....EKG had arrived.

Other members to arrive were Tony, David with his five Stack, Mark, Norman and Bob but to mention just a few.

Courtney flew a two line Stunt kite, Ernie various Delta’s, Maurice a Hexagon kite with Fuzzy tail and Stan a classic Box kite. There were various other kites in the sky including a Parafoil with blue legs (yes, blue legs!). I am not quite sure who was flying that...come on own up!

Our President was busy flying a two Stack, Delta stunt kite and trying to show Courtney how it’s done properly.

Sandra had bought Ernie a lovely Delta kite for his Birthday but there was a little accident with the wind and oooops a spar was broken. Well you’re not getting another one said Sandra!

The ladies went off for afternoon tea, cake and plants while the men discussed flying techniques and various other kite related issues. Perrywoods is one of the EKG flying venues that keeps everyone happy!

The afternoon finished on a funny note! The AA van came to rescue a car that had broken down and then got stuck in the mud himself and had to be towed out but...The Land Rover that towed him out only took him so far as he thought he was okay. The Land Rover drove away and the AA man got stuck again and had to be rescued by a member of staff at Perrywoods. The poor AA man was embarrassed so we pretended not to look (see below photo)..






I think everyone enjoyed April Fools Day at Perrywoods!

Lynn & Courtney Beckles

22nd October Hylands Park and 5th November Rivenhall Airfield

I checked the weather forecast which said rain was going to come and probably stay. Nether-the-less, I arranged to meet Simon at Hylands as I wanted to try my first creation on my sewing machine, a Halloween Cube, made from vinyl bags from Woolworth's that Courtney gave me last year. Halfway to Hylands and the rain started, but I carried on, hoping there would be a break later - Simon phoned and said he hadn't left as the rain had started at his house. I arrived at Hylands and when the rain eased I had just enough time to say "Hello-Goodbye" to Ernie, Vernon and Margaret, before giving up waiting for clear skies. I headed for Simon's where we made his "DHL" kite from tough polythene bags on his brand new Aldi sewing machine (mine is a Lidl one - both less than £45 - but good enough for the job). A good learning process.

This DHL square kite was responsible for cutting down Colin's compound Box kite at Rivenhall on the 5th November, due to me launching Colin's kite under Simon's Line !! Sorry Colin !!! My Halloween kite also debuted there, until it tried to take on Tony G's Tri-D ? Will get round to patching it up one day! Tony's fireworks cheered me up though! The wind was light at home, but gathered pace across the airfield, I had to put my waterproof top on to keep warm !! A lot of people were there that day, notably a group of us radio hams lifting wires and taking measurements till it was nearly dusk ;-)


Graham Leggett

August 6th 2006 15th Royston Kite Festival, Therfield Heath, Royston, Hertfordshire.

Another first for me. John Dodson, Mum and I drove about 60 miles, in an hour and a half, to get to this event. We would have been a bit quicker, but took a wrong road, not helped by some golfers at the nearby golf course, who when asked for directions said, "just look for kites and follow the lines down" !
It was a lovely hot summer’s day, so the event was well attended, with about 5,000 visitors supporting the festival and its chosen charity for this year, the Alzheimer’s Society.

The event is set on the side of a steep hill, so park near the bottom of it, near the disabled car park and use the entrance at the bottom if your legs don't do hills anymore. Some of the charity stalls are set up the hillside, but toilets and food are at the bottom of the hill.

The programme, (10:30am to 4:30pm), included displays by Stuart Fletcher with a stack of Flexifoils, Dark Star... Multi Kite Flying, Team Spectrum, Team Adrenalize, Eastern Rocketry Display, Stafford Wallace - Indian Fighting Kite display, Great Ouse Fliers, Royston Power Kiters (RPK), Teddy Bear parachute drop and a kite workshop.

The hot day meant the wind wasn’t much more than a gentle breeze, which caused a few problems for the arena displays. However, there was just enough wind to get most kites in the air, and whilst the exhibitors weren’t always able to do everything they had planned, they did a great job of keeping the spectators entertained throughout the day, the RPK teamed up with Dunstable-based PowerKite display group Team Adrenalize in a series of high-speed downhill buggy and board races, something that may well become a regular fixture at the festival – although spectators sitting at the bottom of the hill may have found themselves rather too close to the action for comfort! The wind did get up now and again, just as the Rocketry people started their display, but it turned out OK !!

I bought a strip of raffle tickets, from the Royston Power Kiters stand, which was busy for much of the day selling raffle tickets for kite-related prizes donated by manufacturer Flexifoil and retailers Surface Tension and Extreme Kite Shop as well as many others. This year the RPK managed to raise over £380 to share between the festival charity and the East Anglian Air Ambulance. "Doddy" bought two strips of tickets and later on, just before the raffle was to be drawn I thought I'd get a couple of more strips, as they were only a pound a strip. I think someone must have been looking down on me, as with my last lot of tickets, I won first prize, a Flexifoil Super 10 dual line power kite, a Flexifoil Book on Power Kiting, and a cap.
The Festival location is also the regular flying site for the local Royston Power Kiters club, RPK set up their stand displaying information about their club and showing off some of their kiting equipment. The RPK also had a slot in the arena and used this to showcase PowerKite flying, kite buggying and kite Landboarding, as well as allowing spectators to sit in buggies and balance on boards to find out more about this aspect of the sport.

The RPK meet on the Heath most weekends weather permitting, and also occasional weekday evenings in the summer. They also undertake regular kiting trips to more far-flung destinations such as Hunstanton and France.The RPK has around 15 regular flyers local to the Royston area, and over 60 members on its web forum. The club also has four qualified power kite and kite buggy instructors among its members, who offer various training sessions.For more information regarding the Royston Power Kiters contact Shaun Higlett on 01763 249199 or visit the club website at: www.therpk.co.uk

Photos can be found at http://community.flexifoil.com/archive/index.php/t-101508.html with pictures at http://www.flexifoil.com/company/newsitem.php?article_id=102123 . The Royston Power Kiters website http://www.therpk.co.uk/Events/RKF%202006.htm has links to other websites with photos of the day, i.e. http://www.media.roystonpowerkiters.co.uk/main.php?g2_itemId=4552 so you can try to get some of idea of the festival site.

Graham Leggett

June 4th 2006 Ashdon Kite Festival "Waltons Park",5 miles NE of Saffron Waldon, Essex.

This was the first time we went to this event, scheduled for 11am to 5:30pm. Mum, Dad and I hitched a lift with Mary and David from their house. It was a nice day, but only with a gentle breeze at best. This was a bit of a problem for the stunt kite displays - Dark Star, Team Spectrum, "Bruno and Stuart", but didn't bother Stafford Wallace's Indian Fighting Kite display! Piscean were also there. The Eastern Rocketry Display were supposed to be there, but didn't arrive, can't remember why now!! There was also an Archery display.
Some of the members who we bumped into were Lynn and Courtney, David, Jean and Hayley, Stan and Norman.

The Great Ouse Kite Group were performing Teddy and sweet drops, can't remember how successful these were in the low wind now! Bouncy castles, hot-dogs, ice-cream and Silly Billy Blue Hat kept children quiet-ish. Courtney and David M were kept quiet by Kiteworld, after buying some 56" Rokkaku kites!! Stan and Norman were joined by me helping them to launch Normans large Flowform/Parafoil, which had some success depending on the wind!

All in all a great day out, finished off by a pub meal on the way home.

Graham Leggett

Fuerteventura Festival 2006

Photos from Lynn & Courtney trip to Fuerteventura Kite Festival 2006...................

1st October - Hylands Park

It was fairly windy when Dad and I arrived at just after noon. So much so that I had packed my cheap stunters, in case my good ones broke in the wind!! I didn't recognise any cars in the car park, so we had some lunch. I saw Ernie two cars away, he was just getting out his Lidl Diamond kite in the shape of a Fish. It didn't climb very high in the sky, straight out of the packet, so he had modified its spine with some lead weights, so the tail could stay the same length, and some Carbon fibre, from his stock, to stiffen the spine up a bit; results were better after some trimming, but although the £2.99 kite was now a £12.99 kite it was still flying with a list to the left, due to it being non-symmetrical. So Ernie had had enough in the strong wind and put it away to try something else.

Meanwhile George had got out his large Parafoil, some eight feet square at the very least, complete with drogue the size of a very large bucket, if not a dustbin! Ernie and I thought he was a bit brave and hoped we would not see him take off too. Dad gave him a hand to get the wind into it and up it went. It was not up for too long, as George thought the stake and line were at their limits and brought it down.

I had been saying hello to John Dodson who had arrived whilst Dad got the "FLY" 2 line foil out. I went to help him launch it and on turning round persuaded him to put it away again due to the massive black clouds coming our way, he said it may be a small shower, but after a clap of thunder we decided to pack up - quickly !! Just as we did it started to rain. So we retired to the car to chat to John D. for at least a half an hour, in which time we witnessed new rivers forming along the pathways in the car park! When it did stop we went to see Maurice and Glenda, who I saw arrive earlier, to pick up our Kite Wings magazines. On the way to them I saw Colin and Peter, but didn't have time to chat to them until later as the rain started off again! I heard that Harry, who amazed me the first time I met him, flying Indian fighter kites, had been there, but I hadn't seen him for rain!!!

The rain stopped again eventually, but for a very short time, and after a bit more chatting we all decided that, as it was nearly 3pm, and the sky had no blue in it, it was time to leave. We said our goodbyes, but Dad and I didn't make it out of the car park as my car had total windscreen wiper failure, back and front!! So after a quick check of the fuses under the bonnet, which all seemed OK, I blew the dust off the RAC card and waited half an hour for the "very nice man" to fix my rear wiper wiring with some PVC tape and some new fuses - that were inside the car, near my knee!! We got home eventually!!

Graham Leggett

20th August – "Kites over Capstone” event at Gillingham.

As Colin and I travelled to this meeting and crossed the Medway we thought that perhaps we should turn round because it was bucketing down! By the time we had arrived the rain had turned to drizzle and we were directed where to park, which required a little “off roading” through a small forest section to an area reserved for kiting officials.

As we pulled up we met Dave and Vernon. We also bumped into a few members of the Kent and Brighton clubs. Colin and I decided to explore a little and discovered the festival in relatively full swing with a central arena occupied by a stunt display team giving the public an impressive show. As Colin and I wondered around the various kite traders, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We also came across a kite workshop for children, they were using the exact same design as us, except smaller and charging £2.50 each. (Obviously a wealthier part of the world!)

On the way back to the car I ran into Keith and Genie who had just arrived. Due to the improved weather we were inspired to do a little kite flying ourselves, so we decided to “fly the flag” and get out the club kite. Launching this proved more difficult than originally anticipated due to the trees at the end of the field. We did eventually manage to get it aloft and then anchored it down while we had lunch. By this time many people were flying (or attempting to) and airspace came at premium. I estimated a few hundred were attending the event, with most flying.


I decided to try and get another kite up and on my way back to the car saw Simon and Graham and his family. It emerged that Simon and Graham had been at the festival the day before (the Saturday) when apparently the wind was much stronger but not many people there. I did try (unsuccessfully) to fly my two-line parafoil, however being close to the trees made this difficult and I gave up when I went to retrieve our club kite which came tumbling down. Upon inspection it looked as if someone’s (I suspect the people flying the flexifoils near by) lines had cut through the bridling. Luckily Dave was on hand to help me gather it up and put it away.

We finished the day watching teddy bear parachute drops by members of the Kent Kite Flyers and while posing for a small club photo, a sudden and heavy downpour quickly ended proceedings with everyone dashing to gather up their belonging and hurrying for cover. So we felt that was a sign to call it a day and decided to head for home. Overall a good event which was fairly well attended by members of EKG.

Peter Jones