No national aircraft carriers left? I have one in my garden!

Former Fleet Air Arm engineer Peter Jones will be displaying his model based on HMS Centaur at the Adelaide Road club when it opens for the first of two heritage open days on September 10.

The 16ft model - begun in 2004 - was originally intended simply as a flat panel for displaying models Mr Jones had made for his son William to show him the aircraft he had worked on during his time in the navy from 1950 to 1964.

With nowhere to display his models, The Hampton Magna resident at first decided to use a board decorated like the deck of an aircraft carrier, but soon decided to have a go at the whole thing.

He said: “My wife was telling me they were taking up space in the living room and I wanted some way to display them.

“The carrier is in the garage and the car’s on the drive. You have to get your priorities right.”

Mr Jones, of Hampton Magna, fashioned the framework from a retired caravan, using metal from the caravan for the hull and the bow and plywood for the outer skin, the flight deck and he hangar deck.

It includes models of nine Sea Hawks from the 806 Sea-Hawk (Ace of Diamonds) Squadron, Whirlwind, Wessex and Dragonfly helicopters, all to 1:72 scale.

The 78-year-old has lost count of the hours he has devoted to the model, which he says is not faithful to any year, but is supposed to represent Cold War carriers from the Second World War to the 1960s - and even has a hand crank operating the forward lift from the hangar deck.

He still hopes to add motors to drive the ship’s propellors, night landing lights and a model of the mirror landing system devised to help pilots made a safe landing.

Mr Jones said: “It’s as near as I can make it. There’s a bit of poetic licence in places where I couldn’t get exact details.

“It may never be completed in a true sense, because there will always be something that could be improved or added.”

Visitors on Saturday September 10 and Sunday will also be given a tour of the Royal Naval Association Club, a former stables which was once the home of the Riverside Youth Club and which now also hosts meetings of Leamington’s Royal British Legion and Royal Air Force Association.The association was formed shortly after the Second World War by former seamen and was originally called the Royal Navy Old Comrades Association before it changed its name in 1950.

Memorabilia at the clubhouse includes the crest and bell from HMS Leamington, a crest from HMS Cook, a ship’s wheel, plaques and medals of former members.

Colin Hogg said: “It’s not a place you can go round in five minutes.”