Pathfinder Fudge!

Here it is... Pathfinder Fudge!

Made especially for Ermine Street Project CIC by the Captain's Ephemeral Emporium, this fudge is a plain fudge (or plane...geddit??) with a hint of chocolate.

All profits for this limited edition fudge will go towards the filming costs for Finding the Pathfinders. Remember, we were unsuccessful with our funding bids so your support is crucial. More fundraising events will go on in the next couple of months- watch this space.

If you haven't watched our trailer already, take a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHVoBs_mqaI

Go on, treat yourself to a bag of delicious fudge today and do some good, too! (Did you know that fundraising fudge has no calories...?) OK, we may have made that last bit up...

The fudge will be sent to you via first class post in a 150g bag and will keep for at least two weeks, although it doesn't tend to stick around once the bag is opened, we find! You discover new friends when a bag of fudge is opened...

Buy it now- you know you want to...

Fudge ingredients:

Sugar, double cream, golden syrup, milk, butter, milk chocolate (chocolate contains cocoa mass, cocoa butter, lechitin) 

The fudge may contain nut traces as it is made in a kitchen that handles nuts.

Finding the Pathfinders- a trailer

Our trailer is done, have a look here:

Finding the Pathfinders

For those using an ipad/ iphone that doesn't support Flash you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHVoBs_mqaI

(Although I'd suggest using a browser app like puffin to get around this annoying problem for websites like ours until the powers that be sit around a table and sort out their browser differences and get a reliable platform that works for everyone...rant over!)

We'll be holding some open days in Lincolnshire over the next couple of months to tell all you good folks how you can get involved. Look out for Sharon in the local press and media too!

This is how we would like people to help:

 1. Do you want to help us find the crew mates that we're looking for?
2. Are you 19 this year? The same age as many veterans were in 1943? Do you want to find out more about what the "bomber boys" went through exactly 70 years ago?
3. Do you have Lincolnshire wartime memories to contribute to the film?
4.. Do you want to come along to a 40s night fundraiser in Lincolnshire this Spring?
5. Do you have something you could contribute to a fundraising raffle?
5. Would you come along to a "get involved" afternoon that will tell you more about the project and how you can help?
6. Do you wish to book yourself a ticket to our gala screening this autumn?

Just want to contribute to our fundraising to help us make this a reality? You're more than welcome! We're busy raising £2000 to enable us to pay for filming permits and travel expenses for the relatives to come and meet Mr Cannings at a special day at East Kirkby Aviation Centre.
Donate any amount via Paypal here:

Let's get these stories told!

News round up...

Well, ESPTV is up and running more content is being added weekly. It's looking great!
Our "Steampunk" channel is the most populated right now, gaining work from outside of Ermine Street Project in the form of music videos and short films as well as our own in-house creations.

We still want more! Send us your work to be considered on the channel.

The community channel was launched recently with a film we made a little while back with the East of England Association of Parish and Town Councils and very shortly there will be a trailer for our forthcoming documentary "Finding the Pathfinders".

Although we were unsuccessful with our funding bids from Awards for All and the Heritage Lottery Grants, we hope that it won't completely scupper our intentions to make this very much a community project.

We hope that we can engage local schools in some work experience and inspire them to create their own wartime projects. We also want to reach out to local people who were alive in the 1940s when the Lancasters took to the skies above Lincolnshire.

When the trailer goes live in a few days there will be ways that you can get involved.

1. Do you want to help us find the crew mates that we're looking for?
2. Are you 19 this year? The same age as many veterans were in 1943? Do you want to find out more about what the "bomber boys" went through exactly 70 years ago?
3. Do you have Lincolnshire wartime memories to contribute to the film?
4.. Do you want to come along to a 40s night fundraiser in Lincolnshire this Spring?
5. Do you have something you could contribute to a fundraising raffle?
5. Would you come along to a "get involved" afternoon that will tell you more about the project and how you can help?
6. Do you wish to book yourself a ticket to our gala screening this autumn?

This is going to be a very special project and we hope to do the veterans proud. Especially my Dad, as this is why we're doing it.

My Dad, Douglas Percy Cannings DFM is my hero. He doesn't think he did anything special. He did a job. Barely 19 years old and fighting for his country. He's 89 and now he wants to know what sort of lives he other crew mates lived. Who else made it through the war? What did they do? Did they make a difference?

Help us make this documentary a reality.

Official Launch 25th October

It's come around quick, hasn't it?
Our official launch is nearly here. This Thursday we'll be revealing some more of our channels and launching the site into the big wide world at Sparkhouse Studios, Lincoln at 2pm.

Our pre-launch served us well, ironing out glitches and server issues. Still having issues with HTML5, so for a little while longer our content won't be viewable on iPads. Eventually our servers and our HTML5 video players will talk to eachother and we'll move away from FlashPlayer, making our content viewable on every possible platform. We'll let you know when that is.

Interested in coming along? Drop us an e-mail at info@erminestreetproject.co.uk and you may well get on the guest list.

Update on Finding the Pathfinders

Things that are worth doing are never easy, and this funding adventure is no exception!
Unsuccessful with our current funding bids, we are trying a different approach- we shall keep you informed.
In the meantime, it gives us more of a chance to try and trace the relatives of Dad's crew mates that we haven't tracked down yet.
Can you help? Here's a list of those we would like to find if they are still with us, or if they are not with us, we would love to include any direct relatives in our documentary. We have various bits of information on most of them, but the vital information about where they, or their family are now, is what we're really after. These are the ones we have yet to trace with some info to jog some memories, we hope:

100 Squadron (Waltham, Grimsby) from 5/2/1943

Pilot Officer Harold Kenneth Campbell Harvey DFC or "Ken" Harvey , rejoined Canadian Air Force, last known to have been a pilot and air cadet officer in Canada up until 1957. 

Andy C Barr, Flight engineer, possibly from Scotland.

Sgt James F Craik, Bomb Aimer. Is listed as a pilot with a DFC in a Memorial book from Hillhead School, Glasgow. He died before the end of the war over Belgium. Can't find a record of the DFC. 

Sgt Harry S Woods, Wireless Operator, possibly from Mansfield. Is he the same Harry Woods that died in Grimsby a couple of years ago?

Sgt Geoff W Mander, Navigator. Died on a training mission in 1944. Lived at the City Arms Pub, York with his parents before the war.

Sgt C "Dusty" Menear, Rear Gunner. Lived in Parr, Cornwall up until at least 1950 when Dad lost touch with him.

97 Squadron (Bourne 15/3/44 , then  Conningsby from 15/4/44) 

Flight Officer Parker, no first name. Was best man to the Pilot, Bill Reid, but the family have lost touch with the Parkers. He was known to be a poultry farmer in Bury St Edmunds after the war.

Gordon Brown, rear gunner. Possibly from Yorkshire and played Rugby before the war.

Flight Sgt B. Harthill, wireless operator. No other information on him has been confirmed.

Anything here ring a bell? If so, send us an e-mail at info@erminestreetproject.co.uk and lets see if we can get everyone involved together for a reunion next year. My Dad would love to know what happened to everyone after the war.

Pre- Launch of ESPTV set for 9th September

We're going to be very busy this week with our pre-launch at The Asylum , Lincoln on Sunday, 9th September.
As we're pre-launching with our Steampunk channel, where better to launch than at one of the largest Steampunk events in Europe?
The Asylum is ticket only, but you can obtain tickets still via the gates of Lincoln Castle for the event.
We'll be in the Victorian Prison in the grounds of the castle, sharing our temporary home with the film festival running over the weekend. We shall launch officially at 11am with suitable aplomb!
Of course, this is only a small taste of what the main channel will be, with many more channels added at the main launch and at mini events in the subsequent months.

It's going to be splendid!

Finding the Pathfinders

Whilst we're busy with the launch of ESPTV, we're also currently fundraising for a documentary close to my heart- a documentary about my father, Douglas Percy Cannings who flew in Lancaster Bombers during the war (yes, I was a late baby- I'm not that old!)
Bids are in with the Heritage Lottery and the Council and we'll know by mid September.
My Dad wants to find out what happened to all his crewmates in the two squadrons he served in- 100 Squadron at Waltham, Grimsby and 97 Squadron, Conningsby. Chances are there's not many left now but we want to contact the surviving family members too and gather them together for a day at East Kirkby to see a Lancaster Bomber up close.
We've found a few families so far and we'll hopefully find someone from each family. The stories we're uncovering so far are amazing, and some of them very sad.
We'll be enlisting the help of local history volunteers and St Christophers School, Lincoln too in our search, as we want to find some people that lived in Conningby and Grimsby during the war who can remember the Lancasters in the sky.
Of course, we'll be providing some paid jobs to Lincolnshire creatives too and making sure that, as always, that we give some paid work to newly graduated students in the region.
This is going to be a very special project and we'll keep you updated on here how it's all going.
My sister has done an excellent blog on her trip to Belgium accompanying Dad to a book launch about the Pathfinder Squadron raids there. (the writer had consulted Dad on some historical detail).
http://sandycanblog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/im-so-proud-of-my-dad.html
It was one of the reasons that I wanted to tell this story. It's been an emotional time just making the first inroads into researching this. It is going to make a very special documentary.