Tuesday was a somber day for the church service in the little Monmouthshire village of Skenfrith next to an old ruined Norman castle. It was in memory of a legend in the veterinary world, Alisdair Steele-Bodger CBE MA BSc FRASE FRAgS FRCVS, our President in 1972-3. I had the honour to get to know him in the good old days of the college, when it was based in Belgrave Square, but that is another story, for another day!
The church was full of family, 'vets', past BVA presidents, friends and old farm clients from his working life in Staffordshire. Before the service, however, having left the wee cub in a nearby stubble field, I leaned over the river bridge while thinking back on the good years with dad in veterinary country practice. I spied the many trout and a 2lb grayling in the clear fast running water. "Must fly back with the rod next time and bring Kirstie for lunch in the pub", I thought. It only took 30 minutes to get there from St Donats castle, with a turbulent 30 knot tail wind, passing at least 5 more castles on the route. I could see from the air just why Henry V and King Richard had instilled so much hatred and apparent resentment into the locals, still very much evident today.
Now the weather was inclement both ways causing me to have to land, on the way home, on the bank of the beautiful salmon river, the Usk, to look for 'go juice' or 'motion lotion', as brother Mike would call it, from the nearby Esso station. Apart from coming face to face with an 'all working', singing and dancing live Russian tank, another story for later, the flying time from Skenfrith back to St Donats castle was 1 hour 25 minutes + with a ground speed, in gusts, down to 30 mph......memories of the Arabian desert in 2001 London to Sydney Air Race!.
The old girl suffered significant carburettor icing with loss in engine power on both legs of the journey, pushing up the already high adrenalin blood titre and all was not yet over, for one wet and windy evening, as my letter to the South Wales Police Chief may suggest:
Ms Barbara Wilding,
Chief of South Wales Police,
Bridgend Police HQ, South Wales,
Thursday 2nd October 2008
30th September 2008, Police Incident number: [requested]
Upon my arrival at St Donats, Llantwit Major, South Wales, in my aircraft I soon became aware of a helicopter in the immediate vicinity. The police helicopter remained in the area for some time and then circled, low level, several times, sufficient for the horses to break through the fence in panic.
At around 19.05 local I telephoned air traffic who imparted information. I also telephoned the police station who also imparted to me more disturbing information. I was then made to wait approximately 25 minutes on the telephone in order to get through to someone who could leave a message for the helicopter crew. I hoped I would receive information that may explain that their actions were reasonable. I have received no reply.
In daylight of the 1st October 2008 I found one horse in the field in so much pain he had to be shot.
As I am in court, yet again, against the South Wales Police on 3rd October 2008 on the very same issue of the helicopter and deliberate destruction of police records, can I have your personal assurance, this time, all records of the helicopter flight are preserved, including voice tapes, film footage, communications with Cardiff Air Traffic, on all frequencies, etc? At the last incident, when the helicopter was seen flying dangerously close to my Piper Cub, a ‘tail chase' across the Vale of Glamorgan, you refused to disclose any record of the event at all!
When I regularly request, under CPR Part 31, disclosure and inspection of routine police records, I find your officers have conveniently destroyed them or cherry picked confidential police records to be revealed to the Royal College of Veterinary surgeons in support of your written complaint to have me struck off the veterinary register.
In case there may be doubt, I enclose my now answered 11th September 2008 letter to my current Member of Parliament as summary of your past conduct and the current state of the UK's judiciary. Also enclosed is a rough copy, by way of e-mail attachment, of 5 of the current court actions for damages in various HM kangaroo courts around the land, should you, as the defendant, wish to deny later, having any knowledge of what has been going on, on your very own patch, for the past 16 years.
Maurice J Kirk BVSc
Copy to RCVS,
John Smith MP, House of Commons