AIR TATTOO'S PRINCE HONOURED BY QUEEN
Tim Prince, 60, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, was appointed as an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of the role he played in establishing and supporting the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust.
Since it was established in 2005, the Charitable Trust, which is based in Fairford, Gloucestershire, has provided financial assistance to a wide range of projects and initiatives supporting the Royal Air Force and its wider family of charities. In particular, the Air Cadet Organisation has benefitted from the charity's emphasis on promoting aviation to young people. The charity's main income source comes from its trading company, the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust Enterprises, for which Mr Prince is Chief Executive. In addition to staging the Air Tattoo, Enterprises publishes the RAF Yearbook, organises a prestigious tour by the Bands of the RAF and operates a successful aviation-related mail order, catalogue service. Enterprises has gifted £1 million to the Charitable Trust since 2005.
Mr Prince helped stage the first Air Tattoo in 1971 and since then it has grown to become the world's biggest military airshow. He said: "Whilst it is a great honour to receive the award, the work done in supporting the Trust is very much a team effort with the 3,000 or so volunteers and small cadre of permanent staff making the task an enjoyable one. And volunteers Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Knight and Air Chief Marshal Sir John Cheshire, as past and present chairmen of the Trust and Mr Fred Crawley, as chairman of Enterprises, have stood by us as we have developed into a valuable member of the Royal Air Force family. I don't know who's more chuffed – me or my 99-year-old mother!"
Mr Prince, who was born in Didcot and brought up in Wallingford. He moved to Stroud in 1985 and lives there with his wife Penny, an artist. They have two sons: Rufus and Hugh.
