Vulcan Bomber XH558 Confirmed for Bournemouth Air Festival Saturday 30 August 2008

The Vulcan Bomber XH558 has been confirmed as definitely displaying at the Bournemouth Air Festival on Saturday 30th August 2008. The display will take place between Bournemouth Pier and Boscombe Pier.

Jon Weaver the Air Festival Director said: “Securing the Vulcan is a great achievement for the town and the Festival; we are delighted to have this fantastic aircraft in the display line-up. In addition to the Red Arrows’ three-day appearance and the impressive list of aircraft coming to the resort, the Festival promises to be a historical event for the town”.  CLICK ON THE VULCAN TO VISIT THE EXCELLENT BOURNEMOUTH TOURISM SITE.

The hard work of the restoring the Vulcan to flight worthiness by the Sky Trust, has cost 6 million UK Pounds, including 2.7 million UK Pounds allocated by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The reainder has come from public donations, from more than 20,000 people worldwide, making Vulcan XH558 a peoples project.

Donations to the Vulcan can be made at http://www.tvoc.co.uk
For the latest updates, travel advice and parking options check out http://www.bournemouthair.co.uk and http://www.gettingabout.info/airfestival.php

Don’t forget your map!

We all love our summer holidays, and for many people that means two weeks by the pool or on the beach. For some of us however, we like to venture a little further afield. If this is you, then I would remind you to take a good map of the area.

There’s nothing worse than getting a little bit lost in a foreign city, or searching for some out of town locale, and having no idea where to look - not only that, but chances are you may not be fluent in the local language to ask for directions.

It’s much better to be prepared and have a clear map with you before you set off. Even if you don’t want to spend a week’s wages on paper copies - you can find a map of almost anywhere now online. Just Google your location and search away.

Happy UK School holidays.

If you need any help with maps try:

E M Maps and Graphics

Google Maps

Amazon for Maps and Travel Books

Comparision of fuel prices in Europe and USA July 2008

Comparision of fuel prices in Europe and USA July 2008

Data taken from the AA Website Fuel Report Page, a great source of information for driving in the UK and Europe. If you are driving abroad during the UK school holidays you can use this list to see if its worth waiting until you cross that border before filling up. Personally I think I’m going to brush the dust of the push bike, cancel the gym membership and get fit while not using up the last of the oil

Local Currency per litre				UK pence per litre
Country	Currency	Unleaded	Diesel	Unleaded	Diesel
Austria	Euro	1.33	1.43	105.47	113.73
Belgium	Euro	1.53	1.36	121.35	107.77
Czech Republic	Czech Koruna	32.50	34.90	111.47	119.70
Denmark	Danish Krone	11.75	11.50	125.02	122.36
Finland	Euro	1.57	1.43	124.52	113.81
France	Euro	1.51	1.46	119.52	115.47
Germany	Euro	1.57	1.52	124.20	120.55
Greece	Euro	1.27	1.39	100.87	110.00
Netherlands	Euro	1.69	1.50	133.96	118.81
Hungary	Forint	317.00	335.00	108.81	114.99
Ireland	Euro	1.34	1.44	105.95	114.12
Italy	Euro	1.54	1.60	122.46	127.22
Luxembourg	Euro	1.32	1.28	104.92	101.58
Estonia	Kroons	17.60	19.55	89.25	99.14
Norway	Norwegian Krone	13.48	14.17	132.74	139.53
Latvia	Lats	0.79	0.87	88.88	98.48
Lithuania	Litas	4.08	4.40	93.70	101.05
Poland	Zloty	4.64	4.70	114.36	115.84
Slovakia	Koroan	41.49	44.66	108.55	116.84
Slovenia	Euro	1.21	1.31	96.19	104.04
Portugal	Euro	1.50	1.43	119.12	113.17
Spain	Euro	1.23	1.31	97.62	103.96
Sweden	Swedish Krona	13.89	14.79	115.63	123.12
Switzerland	Swiss Francs	2.00	2.28	98.60	112.40
United States of America	US Dollars	1.0866	1.26	54.44	63.06
Bulgaria	Leva	2.44	2.58	98.95	104.62

Art Classes in Bournemouth with Frank Bayes

Art Classes in Bournemouth with Frank Bayes

Start date for all the next 10 week classes is week commencing September 15th 2008. Half term dates are the same as the local Education Authority to enable parents to attend.

Cost of Monday 10 week courses is £88, and Life Drawing 10 week Courses £90 including model fees.

Frank also teaches in student homes for a maximum of two students, for a minimum of 2 hours per session in the local area.

For further details about Art Classes in Bournemouth with Frank Bayes please email frankbayes@yahoo.com

The Frank Bayes website can be found at http://www.frankbayes.com

Driving in Europe Information for Drivers

Driving Abroad information for Drivers

I’ve just been helping a friend prepare for a trip by car to Europe in the UK School Holidays and thought I would share what we had learned about the vehicle requirements for each European country. I’m assuming that you have a UK or Irish car which is right hand drive. If you have a left hand drive car everything still applies with the exception of the headlight beam deflectors which are not needed. We picked all the required bits we needed online from Halfords and also bought a Sat Nav, some Thule roofbars and Thule roof mounted cycle carriers. The online search engine for the Thule roofbars and the spare bulb kits worked particularly well, congratulations to halfords website designers. The breakdown of legally required parts as advised by Halfords is shown below. At the end of the article are some Halford’s discount codes. It is also possible to reserve on-line and collect in store. This is usually worth doing as the online prices can be as much as 50% lower than the in-store prices.

Country Requirements

Spare bulbs France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Recommended All

GB Sticker or GB Euroflag numberplate All

High visibility jacket France, Spain (one for every occupant), Italy, Austria, Rec All

Headlamp Converter All (assuming Right hand drive vehicle).

First Aid Kit Germany (DIN13 164 standard), Austria, Recommended All

Warning Triangle All, Spain (two recommended)

Fire Extinguisher Recommended All

We also compared all of the various GPS based Sat Nav products from the two major manufacturers Garmin and Tom Tom before settling on the Tom Tom GO 920. We have both used Tom Tom’s before and preferred the interface when compared with the Garmin’s. We almost went for the Tom Tom GO 930, but it is £399.99 in-store compared to the Tom Tom GO 920’s £279.99 and the only difference we could see was the GO 920 does not have Lane Guidance, which offers additional warning when changes of lane may be needed for example when motorways split.

The following Halfords Discount Coupons could help shave a few pounds off your Sat Nav or other big purchases.

Use Promotional Code HAL5OFF08 to get £5 OFF when you spend £100 - £199
Use Promotional Code HAL10OFF08 to get £10 OFF when you spend £200 - £299
Use Promotional Code HAL15OFF08 to get £15 OFF when you spend £300 or more

Hope this has proved helpful.

Make Money from your Photographs and Art selling Greetings Cards

Have you ever thought wouldn’t it be nice if you could make money from your photographs and art? Have you spent time looking for greetings cards for family and friends but been disapointed because you thought you could produce better images or artwork yourself ?

I while ago I was in exactly that situation and thought I would do some research into getting some personalised greetings cards made, maybe creating a website and selling them. A bit of research showed that by the time I had printed the cards, set up the website and advertised it I would have to charge so much for the cards that the prices would scare off any potential buyers.

Then by chance whilst looking for something completely different I “Googled” what I think maybe the perfect answer Redbubble.

http://www.redbubble.com

The Redbubble site allows you to upload your photographs and art and set up shop selling cards, wall art and T-shirts. Everything is handled automatically. For example depending on the resolution of the uploaded image (if its too small) you will be restricted to displaying cards only. Redbubble handles all of the invoicing, printing and posting and packaging and currency conversion.

As a seller you just choose the markup you want to apply to the fixed prices provided. Also as a seller you can buy your own printed work at the fixed price. As a regular buyer you only see the the full price (fixed price plus the markup). It seems to me that I can now concentrate on creating art and leave all the tedious stuff to someone else.

I haven’t yet sold anything yet, and have only just started to populate my area with photographs so I can’t comment any further at this point. I was just impressed and wanted to share what I have found.

I look forward to feedback about the Redbubble site and suggestions for similar sites that readers may be interested in.

This link takes you to my area on Redbubble http://www.redbubble.com

Kilimanjaro Charity Challenge with NDCS

Taking part in a Charity Challenge, is one way of achieving you dream to take part in an adventure while also helping those less fortunate than yourself.

One charity that specialises in raising money through challenges is Nation Deaf Children’s Society - NDCS. The sponsorship money raised from these challenges directly supports the work of the National Deaf Children’s Society. NDCS is the only UK charity solely dedicated to the support of all deaf children and young people, their families and professionals working with them. Three babies are born deaf in the UK every day and 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents with little experience of deafness. Deafness makes it harder for children to learn to communicate and many families will face challenges in establishing good communication with their deaf child.

NDCS organises charity challenges in the UK and Internationally. Participants raise sponsorship either by contributing directly themselves or more often by collecting pledges from family and friends or by organising local fund raising events themselves locally before departing on their charity challenge.

Its important to understand the financial commitment you are making before embarking on one of these charity challenges. For example the minimum amount of sponsorship that needs to be raised is often quite high. In the case of the 2009 Kilimanjaro Trek the breakdown of costs is as follows

Event Registration fee: £449
Minimum sponsorship: £3250
(of which £1300 is tour costs)
80% sponsorship (£2600) due on: 10 weeks before challenge
100% of sponsorship due in: 1 month after challenge

The tour cost includes return scheduled flights, all accommodation, private transport to and from the town of Moshi in Tanzania, park entry fees, porters, local guides, cook and meals whilst camping. All meals are included except one lunch and two evening meals in Moshi. The tour cost does not include inbound airport tax and fuel surcharge (if applicable), insurance.

Its also important to consider the additional costs if you need to buy additional personal equipment. Again using the 2009 Kilimanjaro Trek as an example. It is a demanding trek in a tough climate it is essential that you have appropriate clothes, sleeping back, rucksack and boots. Full kit lists are normally supplied in advance of the charity challenge to enable you to get kitted out. In the Uk companies like Field and Trek and Cotswold Camping will often give discounts if you are participating in a charity challenge.

Fitness will also play a major part in whether you will enjoy or just endure your charity challenge. Its important to choose your challenge carefully and leave yourself time before your trip to build up the level of fitness required. Don’t leave it until the last minute to start training and make sure you use the footwear you will take on the charity challenge while training. Blisters will sap your energy and enthusiasm.

Find out about the climate at the time of year that you will be completing your charity challenge. We often have unfounded preconceptions about foreign climes. Its better not to assume.

NDCS assign you a dedicated contact from their events team to help you manage the fund raising side of the charity challenge. they will be able to advise you with fund raising support and also provide you with a few tried and tested fund raising ideas. re inventing the wheel is not always necessary, although sometime putting a different slant on your fund raising can help capture peoples imagination. You will also receive sponsor forms, and can request collection tins, and an NDCS t-shirt.

One additional bonus for UK Charities is the ability to get 28% added to the sponsorship raised by using the gift aid scheme. This allows the charity to reclaim tax from the govenment on donations made by UK tax payers.

For more information and to check out NDCS’s other charity challenges and running events visit the http://www.ndcschallenges.org.uk

(Kilimanjaro image from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons image is from the user Chris 73 and is freely available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mt._Kilimanjaro_12.2006.JPG under the creative commons cc-by-sa 2.5 license).