Sir Peter Ogden, joint founder of the very successful computer services company Computacenter, is upgrading his AW Grand to a GrandNew.   Remaining executive chairman until 1997,  Sir Peter placed £22.5M into an educational trust  – the Ogden Trust – when Computacenter became a UK public company in 1998.  The trust fund helps very able students from less-well-off families access various educational opportunities. Since 2005, the work of the Trust has focused more closely on physics – reflecting Sir Peter’s own academic and scientific interests.

Mr Ogden’s first helicopter was AS355F2 G-JETU in 1996 before moving to Eurocopter EC135T2 G-ETHU in 2002.  Two years later he moved to the AgustaWestland 109 with Grand G-ETOU and now GrandNew G-JTHU.

All of these registrations are connected to the island of Jethou which Ogden owns – this is one of the Channel Islands and comes under the jurisdiction of Guernsey and covers 44 acres (18 hectares).  Coincidentally, the late great-uncle of HeliHub.com owner Jeremy Parkin knew this island very well, and often talked of “refurbishing Jethou” – a project over many months in the 1960s which involved him employing a large team of craftsmen to provide a complete update and repair to all the island’s buildings, constructing a jetty and so on.

Jeremy Parkin, HeliHub.com

[File photo]