Heartstone Festival of Flight
Cadets from 2166 (Hamilton) and 449 (Lanark) squadrons assisted in the running of the HEARTSTONE ‘FESTIVAL OF FLIGHT’ at NEW LANARK MILL from Wednesday 21st June to Saturday 24th June. The cadets provided invaluable help over the course of the exhibition. The exhibition was attended by many school groups from Wednesday to Friday and the organisers had a lot of priase for the cadets duet to the way they handled the groups.
On 23rd June 1905, the Wright Brothers’ made their first flight in Ohio in their new ‘Flyer III’, the first practical airplane in history. On the same day, exactly 101 years later, the Heartstone Festival of Flight, a unique exhibition which celebrates the world of aviation, was visited at New Lanark by aviation pioneers, Lt. Col. Herbert Carter, one of the original 99th Squadron Tuskegee Airmen who won fame for fighting through the prejudice of the time to become one of the first black pilots to fly with the USAF, and Mrs. Mildred Carter, the first black woman to achieve a pilot’s licence in the USA. They met some of the children and young people who have participated in the Scotland wide project in 2005/6 and tour the exhibition and all the cadets and staff who took part.
The Heartstone ‘Festival of Flight’ is a photoexhibition presented with the assistance of four hosts, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Air Staff to 2006 and now Chief of the Defence Staff, Sitakumari - Director of Heartstone, Lt. Col. Herbert Carter - USAF (retired), Tuskegee Airman and Donald Rowlands - Ranger in Charge, Simpson Desert National Park, Australia. This story has been put together with their assistance and takes its audience on a new journey into the world of airpower. It looks at the earliest origins of powered flight, where it has reached today and some of the effects it has had on people across the world, including examples of how flight became a powerful tool in the fight against racism and intolerance. The aviation photographer, Nick Sidle, has been given unique access via the RAF, USAF and Indian Air Force to air stations across the UK and overseas to produce the spectacular air-to-air images for the exhibition.
The exhibition was brought to life with speakers, including Prof. Roderick Galbraith of Glasgow University, dancers from the famous Laban School of Contemporary Dance working with Sitakumari, principal dancer for Heartstone, actors and wildlife rangers in the beautiful setting of the New Lanark Mill drawing on the historical and wildlife connections of the location from 21st – 24th June. In addition to the children and young people who have taken part in the education project using the stories across Scotland since 2005, the exhibition includes a contribution of artwork from the prisoners of Inverness Prison who have similarly used the photodocumentary to discuss/debate the issues and develop practical project work which has been unique and outstanding in the results.