Update
26th January, 2017
I
am sorry to report very sad news: Bill Curry, latterly the president of the
Carolina Vintagers, died in his sleep on the morning of Wednesday 25th
January. He had suffered a massive heart attack some days before.
Many of us will have wonderful
memories of Bill and his wife Cindy who passed away in August 2010.
For myself, I will never forget their incredible
kindness and generosity during my first few years of attending the Southern S/S
and Vintagers events. As an invader from across the Pond, it would have been so
easy to keep me at arm’s length but that was never their way and I was welcomed
into their home to stay whenever I was in Charlotte.
I will be eternally grateful that I had the chance
to spend a few hours with Bill on my last visit in October, to shoot pistols
and machineguns, eat lunch and then go on to do some deer stalking (‘hunting’
in their parlance). I may have been unsuccessful in my hunt but the time that we
spent together is priceless and now irreplaceable.
My one comfort now is that I know that Bill &
Cindy are together again and able to give each other a big hug. RIP old friend.
My
thoughts go out to his family and friends.
On a
lighter note, I am very pleased to be back home after the Las Vegas show. The
return trip was uneventful and comfortable although the final drive back from
Gatwick was very hard work with eye lids getting heavier by the minute! However
I got home safely to be met by Tilly barking from behind the kitchen door and wagging
furiously! Everything is now packed away until April and the Southern Spring
S/S show in Sanford, NC.
The Heritage Guns booth on day one before
Joe Public arrived! Dig the 70’s carpet!
The
show was relatively poorly attended but I think the somewhat inclement weather
can be blamed for most of that. The return trip for many was potentially very
difficult with feet of snow in places, waiting to snare the unwary or poorly
prepared. For once the doom laden predictions of the weather forecasters seem
to have been correct. We saw a lot of rain in LV over the weekend, which I
imagine is a rather rare occurrence, but I snapped this picture looking north from
my room on Saturday morning just after dawn, before the weather arrived.
Monday
sees me back in the workshop to take up where I left off on guns for the
Southern. Not quite sure which ones are going to ready in time but I’ll let you
know as a plan becomes clear.
Lastly
a reminder that we now have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heritage-Guns/1456166597974211.
Facebook is not everybody’s cup of tea but we will post photos and news there
that are not relevant to our main web site pages.
Enjoy
your guns and shooting wherever you are!
Toby Barclay
Links
to our show venues can be found on our Home page.