OVER 2 YOU 243 (09/08/05)

A CONCORDE CALLED EMMA

My wife and I flew on Concorde on the 31 May 1997. It was a flight that commenced at Heathrow flying out over the North Sea. The flight was not only memorable but a present from our son-in-law and daughter. Unfortunately I did not record the Registration letters but seem to recall that the aircraft had the name "Emma" painted below the cockpit on the port side, if my recollection is correct. Is there anyway I can find out where this Concorde is now at rest, be it the United States or elsewhere.

David C. Pattison, via email

The Concorde known as "Emma" is in fact Concorde G-BOAE (Production Nr. 212).

Following her retirement from service in October 2003, she made her final flight on November 17th in that year to the Grandley Adams Airport in Barbados where she awaits to go on public display.

Warren Stevenson, Hythe, Kent.

Have a look at: www.concordesst.com, click on fleet, then on either the British Airways or Air France logos depending on which airline you flew on. That will give a potted history of each aircraft including where it is now. Unfortunately it does not seem to give any names, only registrations. The BA Concorde’s are now at East Fortune (Edinburgh), Heathrow, Manchester, New York, Barbados, Filton (Bristol) and Seattle

David Price, via email

The name Emma may have been a one-off, used on a single flight. Should he actually know which Concorde he flew on (i.e. its registration) then the following website will tell him where it is now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde_aircraft_histories

Ken Ede, Redhill, Surrey

David Patterson may find the answer to his query amongst the nerds/geeks/netizens of the Concorde SST fora at: http://p102.ezboard.com/bconcordesst. I would suggest he posts his question there.

William Saywell, via email

GUITAR NOTATION

I play guitar for my own pleasure but I can only play reading notation or guitar tab. Is there a program that will enable me to insert a CD into my PC which will then read that tune and convert it to either notation or guitar tab. I know this is asking a lot but can anyone help?

A. L. Allen, via email

I suggest Sibelius G7 Guitar Tablature Authoring Software, which has the facilities your correspondent is looking for. In addition to transposing recorded music into guitar tablature it can also convert live and standard notation and create print out in a variety of styles. There is more information at: www.sibelius.com/news/press24.html

Steve Jolly, via email

The program you are looking for is COMP-G-TAB. This will convert type 0, 1 and 2 MIDI files into tab notation though it works best when used with a single instrument, several instruments playing simultaneously can produce confusing results. The program is freeware and you can get hold of it by going to: www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/COMP-G-TAB/

Mike Allin, via email

Have a look at Midtab. It is a shareware program that creates guitar tabs from MIDI files, so you would probably have to do some fiddling around with file formats etc, but it appears to do the job quite well. There is a link to the download zip file at the following web address:

www.bookcase.com/library/

software/msdos.audio.music.undef.html

F. Sutherland, Belfast

SHIP SEARCH

My father was in the Royal Navy during the last war.  His ship, for part of the time, was H.M.S. Sikh, which was sunk at Tobruk on September 14th, 1942. Dad received a Distinguished Service Medal. He was eventually picked up from the water and spent time in an Italian prison camp. He was never very keen to talk about any of this, said he didn't want to relive the experience. I do have his medals and a few newspaper cuttings but would love to find out more. Can anyone suggest a suitable website or resource for research? 

Pam Sturrock, via email

Following earlier replies, my father was captain of the Sikh when she was sunk off Tobruk and he told me some details of the episode. The Sikh was hit by gunfire from the shore and disabled. She was then taken in tow by HMS Zulu, who endeavoured to take her out of range of the shore batteries but another shell parted the tow rope. My father then ordered the Zulu to leave and gave the order to abandon ship. When he arrived on shore he was less than delighted to be told that the Italians were in charge and also that they were half an hour late! So much for the security in Alexandria. My father then spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, first in Italy and then in Germany.

Douglas Micklethwait, Andover.

BOWLS LEAGUE

I am organising a bowls tournament for 16 teams of players with learning difficulties. This requires a computerised league system that can be adjusted at stages then continue to complete a final result. Can anyone help?

Les Barden, via email

There is a new bowls website showing loads of data, including league tables, for several leagues in our area. You can access the site by going to: http://uk.geocities.com/g.gidney@btopenworld.com/

Graham Gidney. Via email

CAN YOU HELP?

I direct a mixed choir and we try to get away from the standard repertoire from time to time. Can anyone recommend a website that publishes the lyrics to classical compositions?

Jeff Monro, via email

As I was born (in 1922) in Hackney Wick, the proposed changes due to the 2012 Olympics interest me very much. Does anyone know of any maps showing the proposed alterations to the area, which can be aligned with an existing road layout? 

S.T. Justice, via email