Accolades for high flying exhibition
Leading aviation artists have voted a new month-long art
exhibition in Pembroke Dock as ‘out of the top drawer’.
The exhibition, at the newly opened ‘Fleets to Flying
Boats’ Centre in the Royal Dockyard, was launched on
Friday (August 24th). It is staged by the
Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust which invited the Guild
of Aviation Artists (GAvA) to exhibit - the first time
the Guild has done so in Wales.
Six of the seven GAvA artists exhibiting were at the
launch and David Ellwood, one of the Guild’s senior
members, had high praise.
“We are most impressed by the presentation and the
arrangements made by an organisation which has never
before staged an art exhibition,” said Mr Ellwood. “We
are experiencing this in an atmosphere buzzing with
enthusiasm for the flying boat era and the memory of the
Sunderlands which I had thought was almost extinguished
and is, to me, sheer joy. This is out of the top
drawer.”
The exhibition, which runs until Saturday September 22nd,
was opened by Paul Blunsden,
Director Environmental/Safety Affairs at Valero Pembroke
Refinery, which is sponsoring the exhibition. He was
welcomed by Sunderland Trust Chairman William McMamara
who also welcomed the Vice-Chairman of
Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Arwyn Williams;
the Mayor of Pembroke Dock, Councillor Peter Kraus, and
MP Simon Hart.
Other guests included by Air Commodore Andrew Neal,
representing the Coastal Command and Maritime Air
Association; Jane Howells, Chief Executive of PLANED,
Stella Hooper of Milford Haven Port Authority, Commander
Tony Mason, Honorary Naval Liaison Officer, and wartime
pilot Ron Currell, of Pembroke, who flew Sunderlands
with two RAF squadrons and operated out of ‘PD’.
Another artistic creation, an iced cake with the Trust’s
distinctive logo and an illustration of Sunderlands, was
donated by Bernadette Rees, a
colleague of artist Tim Jenkins. One of Tim’s Sunderland
paintings is also the major prize in an exhibition
raffle.
Exhibition opening times are 10 am to 4 pm, Tuesdays -
Saturdays inclusive, though Saturday times may vary.
Over 75 aviation and military paintings are on view and
for sale.
The Fleets to Flying Boats Centre is located alongside
the original gate into the Royal Dockyard.
www.sunderlandtrust.org.uk
Caption:
Pictured following the launch of the Aviation Art
Exhibition at the Fleets to Flying Boats Centre on
Friday are, left to right: Commander Tony Mason,
Councillor Peter Kraus, James Field GAvA, Ieuan
Layton-Matthews, GAvA, William McNamara, Peter
Lightfoot, GAvA, Patricia Forrest, GAvA, David Ellwood,
GAvA, Paul Blunsden, Ron Currell, Tim Jenkins, GAvA,
Councillor Arwyn Williams, Jane Howells and Air
Commodore Andrew Neal.
PICTURE: Martin Cavaney Photography.
From: John Evans, Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, 01646
684220.
