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Z - F I D S N E W S L E T T E R No. 4 May 2005
Editor: Andy Smith (email andy@smitha.demon.co.uk)
Website: www.zfids.org.uk
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Halley 50 Year Celebration weekend, Northampton, 14-15 October 2006
This unique event is now open for bookings. Details of the weekend
are on the Z-fids website, though the programme is still
provisional. The Second Circular and Booking Form has been
published. BAS Club members will receive a copy with their May
Newsletters, due out very soon. Non-members may download it from the
website. If you want to attend this birthday party, and we hope many
will, please complete the booking form and return it with your
payment to secure your place. Remember to fill in both sides of the
form. People who paid the £10 advance deposit (a list is on the
website) should deduct this from their payment.
A reminder that, as stated in the last Newsletter, a commemorative
DVD is being produced to mark the occasion. If you have any
interesting pictures to contribute, please contact Stephen Williams
at email stephenwilliams@newbury-18.freeserve.co.uk.
A number of people have written regarding the bar currently at
Halley-5, but it has still not been established who made the brass
inlay of Antarctica. Dale Heaton says it came from Halley-3 and he
inlaid it in the Halley-4 bar in 1985. One suggestion was that it
was made by Roger Daynes in 1973, but Roger has no recollection of
this. Lewis Juckes has contributed an article and pictures to the
website about the Halley-1 bar and lounge (look up "bars" in the
General Index). This was not the original IGYE one but the one in
the 1965 building. There was a scroll on the wall which had come
from the old bar and bore the motto "Mon Dieu Rhone feu qui ne
pince-nez" (which you did not need to know French to comprehend).
I was asked when Halley-1 broke off and floated away. Andy Spearey
and Pete Witty told me that part of the base had broken out in 1979,
and as the ship sailed past the ice cliffs, they could see parts of
it in the face of the cliff (does anyone have a picture of this?).
The remainder of Halley-1 broke out in 1980, I was told. The last
people to go inside Halley-1 were probably Martin Leeson and Kevin
"Smuggler" Gilbert in 1978. This led me to wonder who were the last
people to visit each of the other abandoned bases: Halley-2,
Halley-3 and Halley-4. Halley-3 was seen sticking out of the ice
cliffs in the 1993/94 season (there is a picture on the website) so
presumably it broke out earlier that season. The site of Halley-4 is
still part of the Brunt I think. Please email and let me know if you
have any information.
I have been contacted by Paul Robinson who has a painting of the
Magga Dan by Max Hofler (quite a well-known artist apparently). He
would be interested in selling it. If you want more details, let me
know and I will put you in touch with him.
The large 1:100 scale model of Halley-5 has been saved from the tip.
Dave Brown, who helped to build the real thing, has acquired it and
it now resides in the house he has built near Budapest. Any fids who
are in the area are very welcome to call in. Dave's contact email
address is on the website. There are also some pictures of the model
before it left Cambridge (look up "model" in the Picture Index).
The most recent addition to the website is a page contributed by
Graham Chambers, containing a couple of "streaking" pictures taken
in 1984, possible the first time this activity was undertaken at
Halley (but tell me if you know differently).
Is any one in touch with Mike ('Smet') Durrant (meteorologist who
wintered 1967-1968). If so, please ask him to contact me.
As usual this newsletter is being sent out by email. If you are on
email but have not received it by that route, please register or
re-register on the website.
All the best, Andy
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