THE FIRST group of its kind in the South West to get people interested in rocket-making is really taking off at Follygate.
More than 50 people attended a weekend organised by Jim and Felix Lennie, who have formed the South West Amateur Rocketry Modellers.
Mr Lennie said the weekend had been a great success, with three members achieving the Level One certificate issued by the United Kingdom Rocketry Association.
The qualification means the group will be legally able and insured to run a major event on September 14/15, to design, build and launch a model rocket to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
The event, which will also include rocket building workshops, live music and demonstrations, will also celebrate the Year of Science and raise money for Devon hospices.
Digital video cameras and other technology will be fitted to the rocket, which will be called 'Eirenicon'. The total production will be worth around £15,000 to £20,000.
At Follygate last weekend, five or six big rockets were blasted off, including two hybrid rockets launched for the first time in the UK.
Mr Lennie said the noise from one of the launches, when the rocket reached 11,000 feet, was 'earth shattering' and could be heard for miles.
The group currently operates and holds events in and around the home of the Lennies, but they have now been offered other sites to launch from.
The September event will be held at Bishops Tawton in North Devon, where there is a big contingency of rocket enthusiasts.
The bug is also really catching on in Follygate, where a ladies team of rocketry modellers will be building and launching a medium powered rocket at the Follygate Revels on June 22, called 'The Horn of Plenty.'
The next South West Amateur Rocketry Modellers meeting will be held on March 3 at Follygate, when it is hoped many of the people who could not attend last weekend's event
will turn up.