Green Arrows
From the collection of
From the collection of
Choreography of the Green Arrows
The Green Arrows are a crack lawnmower formation team, part of the Dinnington Dozen Railway Society led by naval commander Peter Longhurst. Peter had hopes to soon be Britain's first man in space. Consisting of six men with antique green lawnmowers the society has never had a railway close by to be enthusiastic about so the group thought they needed something fun to occupy their time. A novel way of staying in shape whilst waiting for the shuttle programme to restart the Green Arrows were formed. Peter says a few beers improves the performance. They perform their routine for the camera and the gathering crowd at the pub as they line up in formation with their lawnmowers and weave in and out of each other to the accompaniment of a man's accordion.
Navy Commander Peter Longhurst a scientist from Somerset, was working on a project developing long haul communication systems and satellites, with the MOD in America. The project included RAF men and British astronauts Nigel Wood, Richard Farrimond, Peter Longhurst and civil servant Christopher Holmes. They were tasked with sending Skynet 4A and 4B military satellites to space. Following an agreement made by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan. Training would take six months, however five months in there was a disaster for their colleagues, the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after launch killing the seven astronauts on board. Following the disaster the space shuttle didn't fly again for more than two years, and was no longer used to deploy satellites. Skynet was later launched using unmanned rockets. The plans for Peter to go to space where shelved indefinitely. 1991 saw Helen Sharman becoming the first Brit in space.