Midland area Open Day Buckminster
BRITISH MODEL FLYING ASSOCIATION
MIDLAND AREA.
REPORT.
Minutes of membership meeting held at National Flying Site, Buckminster on Sunday, 14th July 2019.
Midland Area instigated this meeting to facilitate a meeting of the committee, face to face, to discuss with the attending membership the future policy for the Midland Area for 2020 to be consolidated at the on line AGM meeting of the area in 2019 affecting what we intend doing in 2020.
The meeting commenced with Committee Members present being introduced to the membership. The meeting welcomed our new Chairman, Neil Byrne at this, his first meeting and welcomed his input for the future.
Steve Mason, our Achievement Scheme Co-ordinator and Area Delegate reported that he had attended most of the Leicester Meetings to keep an eye on national trends, policy and decision making/affecting our national status as a sport. He also commented that there had been a reasonable number of routine testing but the year was sadly lacking in the ability to follow up helicopter testing due to the lack of Chief Examiners in this branch of our sport. Helicopter Clubs note…..please examine your existing system at club level for future growth…….
Chris Anderson, Area IT and Publicity, was thanked by the meeting for his excellent work not only at Retford MFC but in establishing good contacts with Leicester office for routine matters when Area Secretary was enjoying a holiday in Boston Pilgrim Hospital…..This was much appreciated and enabled us to offer area clubs the service they require.
Chris has worked to establish a workable Area Website and would ask that all Midland Area Clubs look at putting as much as possible of their club information and events on line for national publicity for our Association.
Alf Tunnicliffe, Area Treasurer and Secretary, confirmed that over the last few years we have given much support to Area Clubs providing publicity flying displays emphasising the work and benefits of belonging to the BMFA. We have been able to do this by not exceeding our admin costs and thus retaining our historical bank balances for future investment should the need arise.
With the future in mind we felt that it was time that we reviewed our ability to host the Festival Of Flight at Barkston Heath in 2020. You may recall that the RAF over two years ago only allowed National Dates in August whereas we traditionally held our FOF in early June. This event was sadly missed by the competitive element in our sport as this was a golden opportunity to test out new equipment in time for the forthcoming Nationals.
As our committee is in a somewhat stronger position than hitherto we propose re-instating the FOF for the early June date in 2020 details to be agreed between Leicester and Cranwell..
Traditionally, a successful FOF has yielded a profit which would allow Midland Area to give more practical support to the area clubs needing it which is in line with the Articles of Association of the area. Watch our website for developments……
The membership expressed some consternation at the government’s idea of penalising all R/C Flying based on the bad behaviour of some elements of the Drone Flyers…..We trust the BMFA to negotiate on our behalf but the whole political situation is in the melting pot so we await developments.
This meeting was well attended and very constructive. We would have liked a greater attendance to enjoy the FREE FLYING for the day at a site which has developed into an ongoing excellent facility to ensure the freedom to enjoy our hobby (sport) to the full. More control-liners please !!!!. Clubs note this event will take place at the same time in 2020 so book your diary entries for a FREE DAYS FLYING care of Midland Area, Use this date to represent your club interests in detail to your Area Committee….so do it!…The meeting with Area participation finished at 5 pm but the site was administered by a caravan group from Nottingham to cover flying until late evening.
Finally, may we thank Steve Mason for agreeing to carry out various tests, with some success, to complete an excellent day. A.Tunnicliffe Area Sec. Midland Area
