Vulcan's 50th Birthday Appeal launched

Vulcan XH558 – Update, Friday 16th October 2009

Dear Supporter,

Today, at 2.00pm, we launch XH558’s 50th Birthday Appeal.

Through the money pledged by the public at the start of this year, we have proudly delivered on our commitment to bring XH558 back to the public this summer, in a hugely spectacular and wide-spread set of displays around the country.

In the meantime, we have made significant progress at reshaping our business plan so as to be far less dependent on one revenue stream. We have also looked at our costs for the coming year, based on the experience of the last twelve months and in the knowledge of what we need to do to keep XH558 flying into the future.

We now know that we need £2.4million to keep XH558 flying in displays for another year, and crucially to ensure that she can fly on for as many years as possible. We also have confidence where £1.6million of that amount is coming from over the year, leaving £800,000 to raise from public donations. Full details of how these costs and funding streams are built up are available on our Appeal website.

Now that we are entering the winter maintenance period, inevitably our cash reserves are dwindling rapidly. We need to generate immediate income over the next few weeks and months, to fund the Winter Service and critical modification work - work for which we have to pay up-front.

With an initial funding target of £400,000 by Christmas, and a further £400,000 after that, we hope to build a steady increase of regular standing orders, bringing further stability to our finances. These core tasks form the basis of our fresh appeal, with the vital goal of celebrating the Golden Anniversary of XH558’s first flight on 25th May 1960.

This time we are asking directly for donations, since we believe that we have proved that we make good on our commitments. Full details of the 50th Birthday Appeal and our 2010 budgets have been laid out within a dedicated Appeal site that will be clearly visible and active from 2pm. Forecast Income and Expenditure Charts are included, with historical data from this year, together with an extensive Question and Answer section.

Next week, we will start to mail out details to over 35,000 Members and Friends who have helped us in the past. We will include an Appeal Poster that we hope you will be able to place in a prominent place.

Our primary goal is to take our story out to the wider world and new audiences, who will be key to securing the many, many small donations we need.

There will be a widespread publicity campaign and other initiatives aimed at taking the project out to the wider public and corporate bodies. If you have not seen our Sponsorship Video, it is available here:




Over 2.5million people were thrilled by XH558 this summer, but only a fraction of those have helped keep her flying. We – you and the VTST team – need to bring many, many more people on board!

We will continue to provide regular updates throughout this new 50th Birthday Appeal Campaign, and hope you will find the time to fully explore all the aspects built into our future funding proposals. In turn, your support of the Appeal will be central to our success!

On behalf of all those who appreciate what XH558 is and what she stands for, many thanks for your continued support.

Robert Pleming
VTST Chief Executive