President: D.A.E. Smith B.Sc. (Eng.),
C Eng., F.I. MECH. E.
Vice Presidents: M. Charles Esq. J.S. Barker Esq.
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Tony Fuller: Chairman |
Jeff Cosford: Secretary |
Dave Hodges: Treasurer |
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Tony Major: Vice Chairman |
Mark Stonard: Competition Secretary |
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Keith England: P.R.O. |
Alan Dobson: Social & Membership Secretary |
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10th January |
Bring your project |
Bring along any project that you are working on, not only if you would like advice on construction, covering, fitting gear, etc. but also so that other modellers can see the techniques you, or the designer, have used. |
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24th January Subs must be paid by tonight. |
A talk on Epoxy skinning |
Epoxy skinning is an excellent way to get a really durable, totally fuel proof, hard wearing finish on an aircraft. It is especially good if building a scale model of a metal skinned aircraft. However it is a technique that needs to be learned - particularly if you are to keep the finish light. |
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14th February |
Petticoat Pilot |
This is a very lively talk by a lady who, at the age of 52, having jumped out of a 'plane (with parachute), decided that this was not the correct way to see England. So she went to the Biggin Hill School of Flying to take her Private Pilot's Licence. Her talk is of her experiences of PPL training and beyond. This should be well worth hearing so please make every effort to turn up and give her a good sized audience - some of you may wish to bring your partners along. |
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28th February |
To be decided |
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14th March |
Bring and buy |
Bring any surplus modelling gear, old aircraft, etc. that you no longer want - and, of course, plenty of cash. Some good bargains are often to be had and all proceeds go to the seller. |
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28th March |
To be decided |
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11th April |
Chuck Glider Competition |
Great fun, everyone is supplied with some balsa wood, glue and a knife to design and build a small chuck glider. At the end of the evening various completions are held, spot landing, longest glide etc |
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16th June |
Brooklands |
See AGM notes about this |
Firstly, and on behalf of all the (now re-elected, and unchanged) committee, may I wish all our members a good Christmas and a crash free 2001
With quite a lot (half) of the club not present at the AGM and a number of events planned, I thought I had better get a short newsletter out to everyone by Christmas so you know what is happening and what happened at the AGM.
Brief details of the AGM are given below under their agenda items.
These were read and agreed.
One matter that arose was the offer, for £1 a head, for members to join the North Downs Soaring Association and hence continue to be able to fly on Colley Hill.
Keith England reported that there had been too little take up of this offer to proceed.
Tony said that the relocation of the Winter Farm strip had worked well and had stopped the accidental overflying of the quad bike track.
He reminded everyone that we do have noise limits and aircraft must be tested if they are new or have been significantly changed e.g.. different propeller, silencer or engine. The noise meter is always available.
When the Reigate Field was examined in the spring, those present were shocked at how fast the grass had grown. It took a full week by a dedicated team of volunteers to get it usable again. The Chairman expressed his thanks to all those who helped and without whom we would not have had a strip to go back to.
A number of members want to the Woodsprings show this year. It was an excellent show with an atmosphere more like a club event than a commercial one. Despite that, many of the best model aircraft and pilots in the country (and some of the biggest models) were present. There was also full size displays at intervals. There was a good selection of easily and comfortably accessible trade stands that you could browse at your leisure. We will definitely go again next year. Please let Alan Dobson know if you wish to come. If the numbers are sufficient we will hire a coach.
The Christmas dinner went well, Dave Hodges was thanked for organising it.
Not enough competitions had been run this year to hand out the League trophies. This has been a combination of poor weather, lack of enough flyers interested and, a, perfectly reasonable, view that it was not fair on the large number of beginners to make them wait even more while a competition was run.
A discussion was held on the merit of competitions. It was agreed that now the number of beginners is reducing and they are becoming much more competent, competitions do have a place. This is especially true for the newer flyers as it encourages them to fly more accurately and improves their confidence.
Mark asked for volunteers to assist with the running of the competitions next year. Six people offered their services.
Actually my title is Public Relations Officer, worth mentioning because although only three newsletters have been produced this year - with the help again of John Turner and Geoff Ward - we have had some other PR successes:
The web site is now up and running at www.edmfc.org.uk.
The club put on an exhibition of our aircraft as part of a charity model exhibition which took about £800 towards a school house in Lesotho. This went very well.
As mentioned earlier the League trophies and some of the other competitions were not presented this year as they were not run.
The trophies that were presented were as follows:
Best Progress Stephen & David Pringle
Fitzwilliam James McMullen
Crash of the Year Gus Huckle
Endeavour Dave Roberts
There were also some BMFA examination passes and certificates were handed out as follows:
Sam Oliveira 'A' Certificate
Ray Evans 'A' Certificate
Luke Shaw 'B' Certificate
Congratulations to all the above and well done.
It was a pity that more of the recipients were not in attendance, at Tony Fuller's suggestion, next year we will let winners know in advance to encourage them to attend.
The club made a small loss on the year but this was a big improvement on last year. Outgoing's are still rising albeit at a slower rate. A significant saving can be made by not having the books audited as this is no longer necessary for tax purposes.
At John Bransgrove's suggestion a vote was taken, and was unanimous, to re-elect the existing committee. We thank the membership for their continuing support.
It had been agreed last year that the club should affiliate with the BMFA this year, as this would have a number of benefits above and beyond the insurance they provide. However, it was thought reasonable that the membership, should review this decision.
BMFA membership will cost seniors £22 and juniors £12 a year, but against this the next year's club insurance of £7 per member can be saved. Those, already individual or affiliated club members, of the BMFA will make a saving.
After discussion the club voted to affiliate to the BMFA.
Although the losses this year were lower, it would still be necessary to raise the subs by at least £5 across the board to get the club out of the red. However the decision to affiliate to the BMFA reduces the burden of insurance. Tony Major proposed that the simplest answer was to leave the subscription unchanged from last year (with, of course the additional cost of BMFA membership.)
Fees are therefore:
| Seniors | £50 | Plus BMFA membership | £22 |
| Senior Social | £40 | Plus BMFA membership | £22 |
| Old Age Flyers | £30 | Plus BMFA membership | £22 |
| Old Age Social | £28 | Plus BMFA membership | £22 |
| Junior age 15 | £19 | Plus BMFA membership | £12 |
| Junior age 16 | £21 | Plus BMFA membership | £12 |
| Junior age 17 | £23 | Plus BMFA membership | £12 |
As mentioned at last years AGM, it is now possible to pay membership by direct debit in two halves due January and June. If you wish to pay in this way, please contact Dave Hodges to get the form you need to fill in.
Otherwise, please remember that you need to pay your subs by the last meeting in January.
Tony Fuller discussed the last show which was too much work for the return and Brooklands' rather disappointing discussions for a show this year (which comes down to very limited access and us meeting all costs). However we may still be able to work something out. - both for us and the GTBA (Gas Turbine Builders Association) event that we are promising to support one week after ours.
What was proposed was a club fly in - not a public show - on 16th June 2001 with guest flyers invited from other clubs. With no public presence, all club members will be able to fly and guests would be invited who would be of interest to members (gas turbines, competition flyers, good scale etc.). The proposal was agreed with unanimously.
With no external auditor Dave Hodges stated that the club needs to appoint an internal auditor to check his books. Tony Major agreed to take this on (he is a qualified accountant.)
Kit Wallis, during the AGM, asked what the competitions were about, so I agreed to write a short explanation in the hope that people may be a bit keener to take part.
A few years ago, league competitions were fiercely competed for, were considered great spectator sport with lots of banter and a good number of people taking part . As the number of good flyers increases with practice it would be nice to see this spirit return.
League 1 has been (but Mark is always open to suggestions) what is known as "Fun Fly" competitions. Most loops or touch and goes in 30 seconds, or limbo (Flying under an increasingly lower tape between two poles), spot landing, Climb and spins, 9 manoeuvres (three rolls right, three loops, three rolls left, etc.) etc. Leagues 2 and 3 are always a lot gentler than League 1.
These competitions are a really great way to improve your flying (and measure how good you are). Many of the winning pilots do not use any sort of special aircraft for competitions. In the last competition that was held this year, I won League 1 with an 18 year old model, Fred Clarke won League 2 with a sports model and Jeff Thiel won League 3 with his Cub. In League 1 a 'Fun Fly' aircraft is an advantage but aircraft such as the excellent "Limbo Dancer" are not expensive - What other type of competition is there that you can you use the same aircraft as many of the British Nationals Flyers for less than £45? Keith