It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the first Don Featherstone Annual Tribute will take place over the weekend of 21st-23rd March 2014.
The event, initially proposed by his great friend Ron Miles, is designed to commemorate Donald Featherstone and the remarkable contribution he made to the hobby of miniatures wargaming over a period spanning six decades. Whilst the event honours Don, the organisers do not wish it to be at all sombre or mournful – quite the opposite. Don is remembered as being irrepressibly cheerful and upbeat, and very much a gentleman who managed to get along with everybody he met. Our hope, therefore, is that the weekend will be tremendous, light-hearted fun for all concerned.
The Featherstone Annual Tribute
This spirit will be recognised by the annual award of The Featherstone Trophy (see photo above), generously donated by Ron Miles. The recipient of this magnificent glassware, decided by the votes of the participants themselves over the weekend, together with input from the judges, will be the person who is felt to have conducted themselves with the greatest generosity of spirit and gentlemanly (or, indeed, gentlewomanly) conduct during the event.
After the presentation, the name of the winner will be engraved on the Trophy which, for safe-keeping, will remain at the WHC. The winner, however, will also be presented with an exclusive vignette to take home, commissioned from the finest figure sculptors and painted by talented, professional brushmen. The vignette will be different each year, but depicting subject matter from Don’s favourite wargaming periods or even, indeed, the man himself, giving as wide a range of craftsmen as possible the opportunity to show off their skills, an aspect of which Don would have approved. More details of the vignette will follow.
The event and the winner of the Trophy will be publicised every year in the pages of this very magazine, which is where you will also find the booking details at the appropriate time. The organisers have the final say in the choice of the game offered and the specific details of the weekend, though of course we will welcome feedback from those that atttend.
We are delighted that for the inaugural year of this event,The Featherstone Trophy will be presented by Don’s daughter Jane, and we are grateful for her blessing the event. Part of the ‘spirit’ of the weekend is to ensure that Don’s legacy is never forgotten, and to this end there will be a jacket and tie dinner held on the Saturday evening, for which we have secured excellent rates to make it affordable to all. At this dinner, we shall encourage discussion about Donald Featherstone and his contribution to the hobby, and to this end a guest speaker will give a short talk after dessert. Again, we count ourselves as extremely fortunate that for this first event, the speaker will be Don’s great friend Dr Christopher Scott, who travelled the world with Don, visiting battlefields and wargames shows, and whose larder of anecdotes and recollections is fully stocked!
Please note that ONLY TWELVE PLACES ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS EXCLUSIVE WEEKEND which will be allocated on a first-come, first served basis.