Fund reaches out to people of west Scotland at Ayr Show Festival of Flight

The RAF Benevolent Fund was delighted to partner with South Ayrshire Council at the International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight from 8 September – 10 September 2023.

As a charity partner at the much-anticipated three-day event, the Fund were on site at the festival village, with representatives from the charity available to explain more about the support available to serving and retired members of the RAF Family.

Over 240,000 people attended the three-day festival on Ayr’s Low Green, with an array of entertainment including aviation art displays, a classic car exhibition, a funfair, a cinema with classic aviation films and documentaries, live music, food, and drink stalls and stands featuring a huge array of traders, charities, military organisations and more. 

The aerial displays over the Friday and Saturday saw flights from an RAF Chinook helicopter, the Team RaVen aerobatic display team in their Vans RV-8 aircraft, Airborne Pyrotechnics, the Starling Aerobatic Display Team, the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s historic Spitfire and a Rolls Royce Heritage Spitfire – to name a few! 

The British Army’s parachute display team the Red Devils wowed the crowds with a parachute landing in the middle of the festival site.

The RAF’s Blackjack Typhoon roared overhead as it raced across the sea with an idyllic sunset backdrop.

On Saturday, the display was brought to a thrilling climax with the RAF’s world-renowned aerobatic display team, the Red Arrows, accompanied with commentary and live radio communications audio from the pilots. 

Speaking on the weekend's events, Gavin Davey, Director for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and NE England at the Fund, said: The RAF Benevolent Fund congratulates South Ayrshire Council and theSKYLAB on a very successful International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight, especially as it generated such an enormous response from the public. The event boosted our Charity Partnership with the Ayr Show and this will help us to reach and inform more of the RAF Family in need locally, regionally, and nationally. 

“The Ayr Show had an atmosphere of warmth and friendliness, and this was reflected in the welcome we received from the people of Ayr and the west of Scotland – thank you – we very much look forward to being back next year.”

Chris Elliot, Air Vice-Marshal and Controller of the Fund added: "What an amazing event to be part of! It was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet so many of the local community during the three days of the International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight and to raise awareness about what the RAF Benevolent Fund can offer to the RAF veteran community."

Chris continued: "The turnout was huge over the weekend, and we were humbled by the interest shown in what we do to support the RAF Family. We are so grateful and extremely honoured to have been chosen to be the charity partner with South Ayrshire Council and look forward to working together in the months and years to come."

South Ayrshire Council’s Director of Strategic Change and Communities, Jane Bradley, said: "The RAF Benevolent Fund provide crucial support to serving and retired service personnel and their families across the UK, including right here in South Ayrshire, so it was wonderful to welcome them to the air show festival village.

"Their presence provided a fantastic opportunity for people to meet some of their team and learn more about the work they do and what support is available."

The International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight will return in 2024.

You can relive the spellbinding aerial displays courtesy of PlanesTV, who were live streaming across the weekend, here.