Lunches
The lunches are held on the third Thursday of each month at 11.30 for 12.30 in the Homestead Court Hotel in Welwyn Garden City. Dress is normally smart casual with a jacket and tie for the men. Expect to get away by 3pm. The three course lunch with coffee costs £30 and includes a starter, meat main course, a dessert or cheese and biscuits, and coffee. An alternative main course “chef’s selection of fish”, may be pre-booked when registering for the lunch.
On arrival for lunch members check in by the hotel reception. Those who have ordered a variant from the menu will receive an envelope containing cards which indicate a diner's choice of alternative for the 'Starter, Main Course and Desert or Cheese and Biscuits’. They should be displayed on their lunch table to help the waiting staff. A cash bar is open for drinks before, and with the meal.
Lunches must be booked no later than the Friday of the week before the lunch. The club has recently introduced an online lunch booking scheme which has made life easier for both lunch attendees, the Lunch Secretary and other committee members. Links to the online booking forms are emailed to members about one month ahead of each upcoming lunch. Details of the lunches, along with the necessary booking forms are also included in the Newsletter. The club also strongly encourages lunch payment by online bank transfer.
Any Member who is unable to attend after booking is responsible for the cost unless a cancellation is notified by the Friday previous to the booked lunch.
Some individual members reserve seats for themselves and their guests by placing cards on the tables. Whilst this has disadvantages and is less than ideal, nobody has yet come up with a more acceptable idea!
Details of the talks to be given at the next two lunches are given below. The dates and times of Lunches, outings and other upcoming events, can be found on the Google Calendar of HELC Events. This is currently set as Agenda view, but you can change to Week or Month view; you can also print a list of events over any range of dates you choose. Public Holidays are shown in green text, all HELC items are a different colour. Click on an event to see full details, including a link to a map of the meeting point or venue.
16 April 2026
Amy, Wonderful Amy
David Keen
Record breaking pilot and aeronautical engineer, the story of Amy Johnson is told using some of the images and the script which Amy herself used to raise funds following her remarkable solo flight from England to Australia in 1930.
David Keen was a primary school headteacher before embarking on a second career at the Royal Air Force Museum. For about twenty years he led the Access and Learning Team, being responsible for educational programmes for visitors ranging from pre-school children to senior citizens and including members of the RAF. He interpreted his role widely, so it included media interviews and escorting VIPs round the Museum. David regarded this as a dream job as he never expected that anyone would pay him to talk about Spitfires, but they did!
For as long as he can remember, David has been fascinated by aeroplanes and by the people who designed, built, maintained and flew them. He was never a member of the Royal Air Force, but has always had associations with the Service.
David retired in September 2016 but immediately became curator (voluntary) of his local history society, helped establish Harpenden Museum and has now retired again.
21 May 2026
Search and Rescue
Tim Perkins
Midshires Search & Rescue (MSAR) are the Lowland Rescue organisation which covers Herts & Beds. The team is tasked by the police in both counties to search for high risk, vulnerable, missing persons. MSAR was the third busiest team measured by operational hours and the fourth busiest by callouts.
Most searches are for missing persons who are despondent, or in a mental health crisis, but the team is undertaking an increasing number of searches for those living with dementia who have gone walkabout. The team provide a "boots on the ground" search capability, often in wooded and overgrown areas into which the police helicopters cannot "see". The team has its own mobile operations unit, with medical, radio, comms and other technical support equipment. The team also has a water search capability with specially trained volunteers.
The team is fully volunteer run, receives no statutory funding and raises all our operational costs and capital expenditure from external sources.
On average, the team is called out sixty times each year. 2024 was our busiest year since the team was formed in 1999, with ninety two callouts involving numerous complex ground search operations, some of which extended over multiple days. The water team was also deployed extensively, to assist with flood emergencies and water-based search operations. Up until the middle of October 2025 the team has deployed fifty four times.
Tim Perkins is the Midshires Search & Rescue (MSAR) team's Treasurer and a Trustee of the charity. The MSAR team is one of thirty-four Lowland Rescue teams across the country in 2024.
Tim is a qualified and operational search technician, search planner and operations dispatcher who has deployed on many searches across Herts and Beds.
