Hi All,

Twas Sunday last, after a committee meeting and the BBC filming of Ray Edwards. = At approx. 19.00 hours I stood on the bridge of HMS ASMK and watched our troops preparing to be jettisoned via poma onto and up the white hills of MK= for what was to be our final assault of the year. Our foot soldiers took = to the hills along with the Bi-111’s and the Mono-F14’S this was g= oing to be a memorable night in the very short history of ASMK.

As with the events of the afternoon the evening appeared to be going well, then alarm bells! We had lost power to the RHS poma line, the assault ground to a halt. We had to radio to one of our support vessels, our sister ship HMS Snozone for assistance, who via boson’s chair sent over 2 very highly skilled technicians who were trained to work at great heights and in the adverse weather conditions we were experiencing.

As the queues were lengthening the look of panic and anticipation fell on the faces of our troops, could this night end prematurely and in failure, f= or once I felt helpless just watching the technicians scale the dizzy heights = of each and every poma stanchion to carry out the necessary repairs. Along with the foot soldiers the flotilla of tiny craft all decked in yellow, pink and blue surrounding this mighty well oiled machine also fell silent, then with the push of a button we REGAINED POWER. The joy and jubilation amongst everybody connected with ASMK was evident and immeasurable. The hill once a= gain was filled with the colourful spectacle of the yellow, pink and blue of the flotilla along with the Bi-111’s & Mono-F14’s, (both very powerful and sophisticated machines capable of providing snowsports activit= ies to the disabled), we were back on course.

The evening progressed well and we looked set for victory, with 22.= 00 hours fast approaching, the soldiers and craft were preparing for their fin= al descent of the hill. It was over, victory was ours, OUR FINEST HOURS.<= /o:p>

Leaving the arena with faces marred with cold and snow and sweat, our battle weary troops were returning to the Snozone café for a quick debriefing bef= ore leaving HQ for the long trek across country to their respective bases. The Equipment Officer and his aides (who were magnificent tonight) were returni= ng all of the equipment back to the lower decks and completed a quick inspecti= on and maintenance check before storage.

Before attending the debrief I had a quick informal meeting with the Captain of HMS Snozone, he commented on our performance this evening and reported no probl= ems, he was very pleased. I thanked him and his staff on behalf of everybody on board HMS ASMK.

I approached the debrief meeting and before entering the room I could hear so= me of the comments, “amazing, brilliant, great night” but to list a few. Upon entering the meeting I could now see these comments = were coming from very Senior Officers who have been involved with Adaptive Snowsports for a long time. It was clear to see in their weary eyes of these same officers their comments were pure adrenalin based. The mee= ting was brief and the evening ended with the usual seasonal greetings, it= was time to look back and reflect on the evening.

Unfortunately due to the signing of the Official Secrets act, I can not divulge to = much information, the only thing I can say is "I counted them all out, and I counted them all back."=

Thank you to everybody who has supported us over the first few months of ASMK. It= is an honour and a privilege to be associated with such an amazing group of people.

Kind Regards,

Bob & Bridget

Bob &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; Bridget

SLOPE ORGANISERS ASMK (ADAPTIVE SNOWSPORTS MILTON KEYNES)