READING AND DISTRICT MODEL AIRCRAFT CLUB

MINUTES OF 2004 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting of the Reading and District Model Aircraft Club was held at St Barnabus Church Hall, Emmer Green on 7^th December 2004.  Over 30 members were in attendance.

Item 1: Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Dave Grey, Peter Roberts, Sam Molyneux, Brian Smith, Kevin Mercer, Martin Black and John Moyler.

Item 2: Adoption of the agenda

The agenda as published in the newsletter and available on the web site was adopted without change.

Item 3: Minutes of 2003 Annual General Meeting

It was explained that the full minutes had not been available due to a computer failure, but that a summary record had been produced and circulated.  These minutes were read out and were agreed as a reasonable record of the meeting.

Item 4: Matters arising

Flying field Some sites have been looked at and discussions have been had with landowners, so far to no avail.  Other potential sites have been identified and are still under review.

Committee.  The current committee was as per the election of officers.  Paul Joslyn joined the committee part the way through the year as club webmaster.  In accordance with the procedure agreed at the last AGM the treasurer’s post will be offered for election this year with the Chairman and Secretary posts being offered, one each at the next two AGMs.

Item 5: Chairman’s Report

The weather this year has not been as good as in 2003 which resulted in some of the events organised at the flying field being adversely affected.  The weather had also affected training during the year with the resultant number of A and B tests down on recent years.  Congratulations to Dave Grey on passing his B test.  Dave Belcher had organised indoor flying which had been very successful and was much appreciated by all.  The club is grateful to Ron Perkins for organising the trophies and there had been good competition for them.

On the subject of a new site, considerable efforts had been made by Tony Roberts and Dick Tiller to obtain a new site.  It is very difficult in this part of the world to find suitable sites and then convince the landowners to allow uses for model flying.  Whilst the threat to our existing site may have receded due to the construction of the rowing lake in the old gravel pits opposite, the club cannot be complacent.  The continuing pressure on public open spaces and the increasing size of the business park means that the club remains under threat.  The club has adopted sensible and safe flying policies and practices so that we can continue at our existing site.  However, there may be more events at the site that curtail our flying activities.  The club has suffered from short notice events which, despite our efforts to liaise with the park operators, has caused difficulty in communicating the events to our members.  There have been comments about the width of the strip and Brian is aware and has increased it in width.  The club is in discussions with the park management about our operations.  At present they are content, but have been scrutinising our rules and the way that we manage the club affairs.  The Secretary met with the Oracle safety department and the park managers at their request to explain our procedures.  At present Oracle are satisfied that we act in a responsible manner.

The chairman thanked the committee for their support throughout the year.  There had been four committee meetings during the year.  Some of the work of the committee was not immediately visible.  During this year the committee had reviewed how the club deals with children and vulnerable adults.  It had been decided to adopt the draft policy put out by the BMFA and instructors were currently being cleared through the CRB process.  By doing this the club will be meeting the spirit of the legislation.  It had been noted that some clubs had simply closed their membership to children and vulnerable adults.

The committee had also reviewed the club rules and the flying field rules.  Drafts area available, but some tidying up remains to be done.

Item 6: Treasurer’s Report

The club accounts were presented which showed that the club remained in a financially sound position.  The Red Cross would be paid £50 which was the donation from Cholsey.  The club had received thanks from the Chiltern and Thames Valley Air Ambulance and from the Red Cross for the donations..

The club received £455 in joining fees from new members.  This represents 13 new senior members.  3 months rent for the hall was outstanding plus two years fees for the club website.  The club mower has finally reached the end of its life and is beyond economic repair.  The club is in the process of replacing it.

Overall the number of members has fallen.  The club had 112 members including 15 juniors.  The turnover in members was 14.3%.  The club has 9 B certificate holders and retains four club examiners.

Item 7: Election of officers and committee

In accordance with the change of procedure adopted at the 2003 AGM, of the posts of Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary only that of Treasurer was offered for re-election.  Ron Perkins was nominated by Alan Longstaff and seconded by Mick Mace.  There being no other nominations Ron Perkins was elected unopposed.

Existing committee members had expressed their willingness to stand again for election.  It was proposed by Peter Mann and seconded by Mick Mace that they be re-elected as a block.  There being no objections, the committee members were re-elected.

Mick Mace was nominated to join the committee by Jack Bishop, seconded by Ron Perkins.  Mick Mace was elected to the committee by a show of hands.

Paul Joslyn was nominated as webmaster by Jack Bishop, seconded by Ron Perkins and duly elected.

Andrew Stretton was nominated by Neil Viney as club safety officer and seconded by Mark Ransom and was duly confirmed in that post.

Tony Roberts had volunteered to become newsletter editor and was proposed for that role by Mark Ransom, seconded by Dick Tiller and duly elected.

The full list of officers and committee members is shown below:

It was confirmed that Dave Grey would continue to act as a club safety officer.

Those wishing to receive the club newsletter via email should send their email address to the club website.

Mick Mace volunteered to take on the tea making duties for club meetings with Ron Perkins providing assistance.

Brian Smith had volunteered to continue looking after the strip on behalf of the club.  This offer was gratefully accepted.  As referred to earlier the club mower is about to be replaced and the club were grateful to Brian for the minimal cost to the club of maintaining the mower and strip.  A vote of thanks to Brian and proposal that he continue to receive free membership of the club was proposed by Dave Belcher and seconded by Alan Longstaff.  This was unanimously agreed.

Item 8: Flying Field Matters

A site recently brought to the attention of the club is to be pursued.  Members are reminded that when looking for suitable sites, they should not be too near to a major road and clear of any airfield or military establishment.  The level of rent that the club may pay is open to negotiation, but may be up to £2.5K.  Planning permission would be required.  The offer of a reward to any member who identifies a potential site which the club subsequently manage to secure still stands.

It was stressed that all members should be actively looking for sites.  It should not just be left to a few people.  The club is happy to take on negotiation once a suitable site and its owner have been identified.  It my not appear urgent to many, but clubs have lost sites due to a single incident.  Our site is particularly vulnerable and it would hit the membership very hard if we found ourselves without a site.  Any potential sites should be made known to the club committee.  It is preferable that the land owner (not tenant) is identified.

Flying times: it was agreed that these should be published in the first newsletter and that they should be posted up at the flying field on the peg board.

Item 9:  Subscriptions for 2005

The BMFA has raised its fees by £1 for senior members.  Junior fees remain unaffected.  It was proposed that the club element of the subscription remains unaltered, but that the BMFA increase be passed on to all those considered to be senior members by the BMFA.  The latter includes those designated as senior citizen members by the club.

It was proposed by Ron Perkins and seconded by Neil Viney that for 2005 the fees for senior members, including BMFA subscription, be £62, for junior members £21 and for senior citizens £36.  For those paying their BMFA fees elsewhere, the fees are abated by the BMFA rate of subscription.  The motion was carried unopposed.

The joining fees remain unaltered.

Members were reminded that in order fly on or after January 1^st 2005 they must have paid their membership fees.

Item 10: Training

Congratulations were expressed to Dave Grey on passing his B certificate.  A vote of thanks was proposed for Dave Grey for his work in training.  It was proposed that Dave Grey continue to receive free club membership.  The combined motion was proposed by Ron Perkins, seconded by Dick Tiller and unanimously agreed.

There was discussion about changing the mid week training evening from Tuesdays to Wednesday evenings to better suit the training providers.  It was agreed that from May 2005  during the summer months club evenings on Tuesdays will be suspended and will be replaced by training evenings on the equivalent Wednesdays each month.  Tuesday evenings will revert to normal flying times.  It was confirmed that the extended flying time for training applies only to those undergoing instruction with a view to obtaining their A certificate.

Item 11: Club Rules

A draft of the revised general rules and flying field rules was put forward.  The intention is to incorporate the changes that have been made over the last few years.  In future club membership will take the form of membership cards rather than the yellow book.  Copies of the club rules will be circulated as and when required to all members.

It was confirmed that the current rules require any member who wishes to fly on or after the 1^st January in any year to be in possession of their membership for that year.  Any member who has not paid is not a member of the club and is not insured.

There was debate about whether the cut off for being deemed a new member was 31^st December or 31^st January.  The Secretary confirmed that the minutes of the relevant AGM would be checked before any rules were published.

The question of a frequency log was raised.  There are many factors which affect the success of such a system.  It had been tried previously with limited success, but it was agreed the new committee should re-examine the possibilities.

Any comments on the draft rules should be sent to the Secretary before the end of January 2005.

Item 12: Charitable donation

£150 had been paid to Chiltern and Thames Valley Air Ambulance.  A certificate of donation had been received.  The organisation had indicated that they are willing to support the club and would be interested to come along and see what the club does.  It was agreed that this should be pursued with the possibility of a heli evening.

£100 had been paid to the Red Cross and a letter of thanks received.

It was proposed by Tony Roberts, seconded by Bob Roper, that this year’s donation be £150 to the Air Ambulance.  This was agreed.

Item 13: Any Other Business

Award of trophies.  There had been a successful season of competitions organised by Dave Belcher and Ron Perkins despite the weather.  The Pilot of the Year competition was won by Ron Perkins with Ray Chesterman and Bob Roper equal second and Keith Lock in third place.

The committees award for the pilot showing the best all round development went to Mark Warlow, a junior member.

Committee meeting: the first meeting of the committee will take place on 13^th January at Woodford Park.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 22:05