Thursday 14 May 2009

Flying The Female Flag


Congratulations to Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Moore, 31, a female daredevil who is to become the first woman to fly with the Red Arrows. Kirsty will start training in September as a member of the prestigious aerobatics display team from 2010-2012. Kirsty (pictured above) is not the first woman to apply for a place, although she was the first to make the short list and be selected to join. According to the RAF no previous female fast-jet pilot had advanced far enough in their career to join the display team, which is based in Scampton, Lincolnshire. To underline Kirsty's achievements, about thirty fast-jet pilots apply to join the Red Arrows every year but only the very best are successful. As a measure of ability required, successful applicants must have scored better than average marks in their flying career, have flown a minimum of 1,500 hours and have completed at least one front line tour as a fast-jet pilot. She is currently flying with a Tornado squadron based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. Kirsty joined the RAF in 1998, the Top Gun, who is originally from Lincolnshire, trained new pilots on the Hawk aircraft at RAF Valley in North Wales. It is likely that Flight Lieutenant Moore will fly at events such as the British Formula 1 Grand Prix, Great North Run in Newcastle and, in her final year with the team, at the London Olympics. If you are watching a display and one of the jets is painted in a Laura Ashley design, it will probably be Kirsty.

Wildlife Pictures No.7

The latest picture from our Wildlife Pictures series.
Another wonderful close-up of nature.
(Click image to enlarge)

Greg Pritchard

Last Saturday evening on 'Britain's Got Talent' 24 years old Greg Pritchard walked onto the stage and introduced himself as a singer. What came out of his mouth was quite remarkable. Greg is a waiter in a local hotel, but doesn't feel he is getting all he can out of life and wants to change it by becoming a professional singer. If you watched the show, or have seen this video clip before, I am sure you will enjoy watching it again. If you haven't seen it before then you are in for a big surprise! Click on the link below, watch in full screen mode and sound turned up.

http://talent.itv.com/videos/video/item_200163.htm

Illusion


Look closely at this goblet.
Can you see anything else in the picture.

Horseracing

Our horseracing tips are so bad even Frankie Dettori can't win on them. Yesterday's selection Paradise Dream could only finish a distant third at York. I am quite sure the horse is better than this run suggests and I shall continue to follow him. Maybe the ground was too firm for him or perhaps he was not quite right on the day. The bottom line is we are now slipping into the red and badly need a winner to boost the funds.

Profit/Loss -1.65 Points

How Proud Diana Would Have Been


I have included this picture of Prince William and Prince Harry in today's offerings, for no other reason than I think it is one of the best Royal pictures I have seen in a while. I think it's charm lies in the fact that it does not look like a Royal picture. My first thought on seeing it was, how proud Princess Diana would have been had she still been alive.

Today's Smile