A year ago today (March 22nd 2010) Norman and ‘Roxy’ flew the short distance from the farm where G-YROX was housed, to the Sandy Bay Playing Fields in Larne, Northern Ireland. Waiting to greet him were hundreds of well wishers who had all turned out on a Monday morning in March for one purpose; to be there at the start of a fantastic adventure that had been many years in the organizing and to wish Norman Bon Voyage on his extraordinary flight.
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| Norman and Roxy arrive at Sandy Bay Playing Fields (courtesy of Stephen Craig) |
Among the well wishers were members of Norman’s family, friends, local schoolchildren (who had been given the time off to attend), local civic dignitaries including the Mayor, many members from the media and hundreds of local people all cheering their own local hero.
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| Norman meets with local schoolchidren before he departs (courtesy of Stephen Craig) |
It was from this scene of camaraderie shown towards him that Norman throttled the engine up and took off along the playing fields, rising above the crowds, and with what would become his trademark, waved, gave a thumbs up and head off eastwards over the Irish Sea towards England and the first leg of his circumnavigation of the globe.
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| Norman flies past the Chaine Memorial Tower as he heads eastwards around the world (courtesy of Stephen Craig) |
On that day no one knew what would happen in the coming months but everyone knew that there was going to be many adventures that would befall Norman on his voyage.
How many would have bet on him reaching the Philippines before the journey had to be delayed due to bad weather? How many would think that 5 months later they would be reading of the many records that he had broken during the first half of the journey? How many would have bet on the return to flying after the incident in the lake in Nongprue? How many could have imagined how the spirit of the adventure had touched people’s hearts and imaginations all around the world? On that amazing day in March 2010 not many people could hazard a guess at any of the events that occurred to Norman in the following month’s but that didn’t matter, they were there to show Norman that they would be behind him every mile of the way and wanted only to see him arrive back in Larne safely.
Because of the support everyone has shown him over the last year, Norman, in collaboration with the People at the Authorised GyroxGoesGlobal Facebook Fan page, has created a new website. It is entitled ‘The GyroxGoesGlobal Timeline’ and as it says, it is a site designed to give followers old and new a chance to relive all the adventures, happenings and events from the previous year.
Jam packed with images and important dates it will initially be run in installments. The first installment is now ‘live’ and covers the events from 2004 up until this time last year when Norman departed Larne. Click this link to go straight to the site and remember to bookmark it so that you won’t miss an installment.
The Gyrox Goes Global Timeline
Over the coming weeks more installments will be added to the site plus extra pages packed with interesting, Gyrox related content. We would also like to ask anyone out there who may have photos from their encounters with Norman and ‘Roxy’ that if at all possible whether these could be forwarded to us with the possibility of them being included in the website. Contributors will be credited for their images. If interested please email us at…gyroxgoesglobal@gmail.com
With the resumption of flying date approaching rapidly we will be updating the new website regularly as well as keeping everyone up to date with how the preparations are going. We hope you will all join us regularly for the ‘Flight of a Lifetime’ as we count the days down to the next stage of this fantastic adventure.
The Gyrox Team
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Check out the New Timeline Website.
Visit the New Facebook 'Page' and click 'Like'
Become a Facebook Friend
For More Information Check out the Gyrox Website
Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen Charity: Bowel Cancer UK
Consider Joining The Authorised Facebook Fan Page
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