LAA Strut News
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Struts 4U by Anne Hughes
n August 1992 a new editor, Roger Jones, took over the editorship of the PFA’s Popular Flying, bi-monthly magazine. The magazine’s regular feature for Struts was headed Strutting Around, and the August magazine heralded a new compiler for this three- page feature. The new incumbent, who took over from Alan Lovejoy, was Brian Hope who was the chairman and newsletter editor for the Mid Kent Strut. Brian described himself as an enthusiastic advocate of the Strut system and went on to say, “There are currently 43 Struts throughout the UK, many in a healthy and active state but others are teetering on the edge of extinction.” At that time about 25% of the 7,000-plus PFA members also belonged to a local Strut. Brian wrote, “A Strut must encompass all the diverse aspects of the PFA membership; builders, owners, armchair enthusiasts et al.” I would echo Brian’s words from 29 years ago, and also his encouragement to members to visit their local Strut and ‘…if for any reason you are less than impressed, make constructive criticism and volunteer to help!’ Brian was also keen to point out that much of the column comes from the Struts themselves with news of their events, which is often to be found in their newsletters. However, in the early 1990s many of us were just becoming aware of a new machine called a ‘computer’ and few had purchased the space-consuming
46 | LIGHT AVIATION | December 2021
Above Two of the Travel Airs which celebrated our LAA Fly-it Day in Flabob, California. Below Some of Brian’s Strutting Around columns from the early 1990s.
equipment required to operate the most basic of programmes. Newsletters and communication were still via ‘snail mail’ with the old Banda machine churning out A4 missives from editors which were sent to members. The cost of postage and print limited the length of publications and, in those pre-email days, Brian included postal addresses in his columns for Strut contacts. During the 1990s Brian was able to continue publishing a list of over 40 Struts and continued to include news from the far north of Scotland to the tip of Cornwall. At the end of 1994 Roger Jones announced that Brian was retiring from Strutting Around, and Eryl Crump took up the reins, followed by Paul Lawrence. It was in 2001 that Brian took over the editorship of Popular Flying and introduced Strut Spotlight to the magazine. With the era of ‘online’ communication now becoming a familiar and useful method of relaying information, the PFA website now included the Strut lists, formerly published in the magazine. Brian’s commitment to the PFA/ LAA Struts column continued, with a published list also included from time to time. In 2016 I suggested that a regular column be reinstated in the LAA’s Light Aviation under the title of
