A Tribute to Brian Batley Hammond

BRIAN BATLEY HAMMOND

Written by Tony Birth, Fellow Volunteer.

Brian joined us as a volunteer after a career as a School Teacher and Deputy Headmaster, after foolishly expressing his interest in helping us during a conversation with me at an unrelated function the previous Summer. We knew each other from carrying out some “community service” on behalf of a local Ballet School – no questions please!

He told me that whilst he had no experience whatsoever in matters aeronautical, he was quite intrigued by what Aerobility does and was happy to be useful in any capacity at all - as long as it didn’t involve teaching! So, I showed him round, and he decided that he would like to assist the Build-a-Dream Project Team, and duly did so to good effect. In particular, his wood-working skills proved valuable to the extent that he became known as “Brian the Wood”, partly to avoid confusion with another similarly forenamed team member.

In addition, after some persistent cajoling from myself and Team Leader Harvey, he proved to be unable to resist the lure of working again with young people, and so joined the Mentor Group to work with the current Aviation Education Programme students, both at the classroom sessions at Blackbushe and for the visit to the FAST Museum at Farnborough early in the year. In this area he demonstrated great calmness, patience, and understanding in working with the students – no surprises there then!

Brian showed himself to be a good and caring man who will be missed by those who have worked with him.