Monday 22 May 2023

A UNIQUE and historic aircraft with strong links to Beverley is in danger of being sent for scrap unless enough money can be raised to save it. The Blackburn Beverley, which once graced the entrance to the Museum of Army Transport in the town, where the Flemingate shopping centre now stands, was one of the largest aircraft flown by the RAF and was renowned for its bulbous shape, with a large “belly” used for transporting large bulk loads or troops.

After the Beverley Museum closed in 2003 the aircraft, the only remaining example of its kind, was moved to Fort Paull, which itself closed in 2020. It was then bought by businessman Martyn Wiseman for £21,000. He originally planned to move the aircraft to an airfield near Selby, which he owns, but the costs of transporting the Beverley have escalated and Mr Wiseman now puts that figure at £120,000.  “I’ve offered it to every museum in the country for free. Lots of people talk, but no one’s actually come up with the goods,” he explained. Despite launching a fund-raising appeal he’s set a deadline of the end of this year to raise the money or send the plane for scrap.

DRUG SEIZURES by police across the Yorkshire and Humber region have risen by 35 per cent in just five years, a new Home Office report has revealed. The latest figures, which cover a 12-month period up to March of last year, reveal a total of 16,074 drug seizures.

While Cannabis accounted for 70 per cent of all drugs seized, the report highlights that there were 153 cases of crack cocaine seized in Humberside in the 12 months to March 2022.