This trophy was commenced within LARCS in 2005 following the passing of Vern Crawford on 29th August 2004. The initial concept was to encourage model building within the club as Vern had been a very keen scale builder, however due to the advent of ARF it was decided to make the award annually, to a member within the club who had made a positive contribution to LARCS .

Vern had been a member of LARCS forever (nobody knows how long) and was a bit of a rough diamond, a larrikin with a heart of gold if he could be of assistance to any member. He would also tell it straight if you upset him.

Vern had achieved at many sports, He represented Australia in speed control line flying and was a wiz at repairing, tuning and modifying engines for max performance.

I remember Him sitting at the shed end of the pit area, egging on a young member, doing low passes “Lower,Lower,Lower” until the chap carried his model back in a plastic bag. “ Dam, I missed it. Can you do it again”.

The Trophy was made within the club and continues Vern’s ideals of “Best to build it yourself”.

Congratulations to the winner for 2009 who has certainly put a lot of time and effort into providing a valuable service to LARCS. The award will be made at the Xmas Function on Sunday 6^th December

Story Submitted by - Dennis Waugh