reading and district model aircraft club
minutes of 2007 annual
general meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the Reading and District Model Aircraft Club was held at St Barnabas Church Hall, Emmer Green on 4th December 2007
Apologies were received from Dave Grey, Peter Mann and Mike Russell
The agenda was adopted as published
The minutes as published were agreed as a fair representation of the meeting. The minutes were proposed by Ron Perkins, seconded by Paul Joslyn and agreed unanimously.
The BMFA policy on children and vulnerable adults had been the subject of some adverse debate on the BMFA Forum. The club policy had been cited during the debate, and the chairman had responded to the implied criticism. The BMFA had subsequently closed the forum.
The chairman reported that changes were due next year in the laws governing the protection of children which may have implications for the club.
The BMFA now make it a condition of insurance that anyone training children or vulnerable adults should have CRB clearance. The club policy already requires this so no change was required.
The chairman thanked the committee for its work during the year. He reported that it had not been the easiest of years for a variety of reasons. The weather had been poor and he could not remember the field flooding in July in previous years. Membership seems to fluctuate but remains at between 80 and 100 members. On a positive note the club now has four BMFA Approved instructors, these being Dave Grey, Ron Perkins, Dave Belcher and himself. This gives the club considerable credit in the eyes of the BMFA. The club has also a number of registered instructors and others who assist with training. The club is currently short of at least one examiner and the intention is to rectify that in the coming year. Only one competition was held during the year, with the weather being unsuitable. Fly-ins at Beale Park were well attended but the August show was not. The advertising for this was poor and the Park appear not to put sufficient emphasis on the show.
With regard to club meetings, there had been a good turn out for Puffin Models which had been a very good evening. It can be difficult to get guest speakers. Travel may be part of the cause and at times it can be difficult to make contact.
On the technical side, electric power has come to the fore with the costs now more or less equal between IC and electric. It is therefore within the reach of most modellers. This has of course had an impact on the noise issue as in general electric models are much quieter. 2.4 GHz radio has been spreading and is now very popular. There are a few straws in the wind about the use of the 2.4 GHz band for provision of high speed broadband in remote areas. This would be at a significantly higher power output than model radio and could cause problems if it goes ahead and is in the same part of the bandwidth. The large model association may not consider 2.4GHz suitable for primary controls of models over 20 Kg.
The flying site is in good condition thanks to the contractors who look after it. It has grown considerably during the year as the contractors took it upon themselves to enlarge it. They also mowed a path out to the strip which assists modellers but also encourages the public to walk across. This is a problem and members flying at the site need to be very aware of this.
The club is still looking for an alternative site, but these are hard to find. A small group of modellers has managed to secure a site on an old landfill site which has been grassed over. There are numerous old landfill sites in the area and members should keep their eyes open for a suitable site.
The treasurer reported that a copy of the accounts had been distributed at the AGM. There had been a gain of some £1,260 over the year with net interest on the building society account of £279.
The publication of the newsletter was to be subsidised by Ripmax through the local Hobbystores but thee had been problems with this and they had not subsidised to extent that had been hoped for. Postage has gone up and in particular that for sending out memberships and other documentation.
Turnover of membership this year had been low with only 10 being lost to the club and we had also gained a number. At the end of the year there were 87 paid up members of the club.
The BMFA has put its subscriptions up by £1 for all categories and the recommendation is that the club do likewise.
A question was raised about the outstanding amounts to be paid as recorded on the income and expenditure sheet. It was explained that these represented payments that would appear in next year’s accounts. The club accounts run from 1 December to 30 November each year so that items such as field maintenance will appear once only in each set of accounts.
A suggestion was made that the club absorbs the BMFA increase as it still has an excess of income over expenditure. It was explained that with costs rising and also the aim of securing sufficient funds to finance a new field the club should seek to continue saving each year. The rise was minimal in overall terms. This option could be put to the vote when subscriptions are to be set.
The accounts were then proposed and accepted.
According to the rotation of election of officers the Chairman stood down and the post was open to nominations for election of the post of Chairman. The Treasurer and Secretary remain in post. The remainder of committee posts are re elected annually. The rotation of election of officers was introduced a few years ago on advice to clubs with significant funds. It is a measure to help ensure that a small group of people cannot instantly gain control of the club and remove the funds from the club.
Paul Joslyn temporarily took the Chair for the election of the post of Chairman. Martin Dance indicated he was willing to stand again. He was proposed by Andrew Stretton and seconded by Kevin Mercer. Martin Dance was elected unopposed.
Of the remainder of the existing committee, all were prepared to stand again apart from Tony Roberts who indicated that he would not be seeking re election.
It was proposed to re elect the remainder by block vote. The Secretary pointed out that Dave Grey had been co-opted during the year and he proposed Dave Grey as a committee member. This was seconded by Paul Joslyn and Dave Grey was duly elected.
The remainder of last year’s committee were re-elected by block vote on a proposal by Ron Perkins seconded by Paul Simmonds. Dave Belcher, Neil Viney, Kevin Mercer, Paul Joslyn and Joe Dray were duly elected.
At the end of the meeting Robin Cawsey was co-opted on to the committee
|
committee for 2008 |
|
|
Chairman |
Martin Dance |
|
Secretary and Club Safety Officer |
Andrew Stretton |
|
Treasurer |
Ron Perkins |
|
Committee |
Dave Grey (flying field safety officer) |
The BMFA fees were rising by £1 and it was suggested that the membership fees rise in line with the BMFA increase. This would make the fee payable for senior members £73. This includes the BMFA fee which is mandatory for all members. Those who pay their own BMFA membership are required to provide proof of such to the treasurer as it is a condition of membership of the club and our landlords that we be members of the BMFA.
It was suggested that the club absorb the £1 increase. However, this would reduce the club’s potential to save and with rising costs also reducing that potential it was suggested that this would not necessarily be in the club’s best interests. The purpose of saving was to have funds in the event that the club found a new site and was expected to pay rent immediately. Such a scenario would require significant funds with average site rental around £3000 per annum and the cost of legal expertise in drawing up a contract and possibly obtaining planning consent would also be significant. In the event of finding a site there would have to be a large rise in subscriptions at the next AGM. Having funds would seem a sensible approach.
A proposal was put forward by the Treasure that subscriptions rise by £1 to cover the increase in BMFA membership with no rise in the club portion of the subscription. The motion was seconded by Andrew Stretton and a vote taken by a show of hands There was a majority in favour of the motion and therefore it was adopted.
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Membership fees for 2008 |
|||
|
Category |
Club |
BMFA |
Total |
|
Full |
45 |
28 |
£73 |
|
Junior |
10 |
15 |
£25 |
|
Senior Citizen |
16 |
28 |
£44 |
|
Joining fee |
|
|
£50 |
The joining fee was discussed, particularly whether it was likely to deter membership. Three options were discussed: increase, drop, or stay the same. It was proposed by Ron Perkins that the joining fee remain at £50, seconded by Kevin Mercer and agreed. It was clarified that junior members do not pay a joining fee.
The chairman explained that although the club had attended Cholsey this year as usual and run the flight line it had received no donation for charity. This may well have been an oversight or a mistake as there had been some changes in the organisation for this year. The result is that the club does not have that money to pass on to charity.
Tony Roberts has been collecting for the air ambulance through donations for teas and coffees at meetings and was pleased with the way it had gone. Tony explained that the situation with the air ambulance was quite fluid. The machine itself was getting older and as a result had certain restrictions in place and would become less effective. There is a new chief fund raiser. Members of the club have a vested interest in the continued presence of the air ambulance.
There was discussion about whether fixing a price for teas and coffees would increase the revenue but Tony did not see a need to do so and thought the current system was working satisfactorily.
The chairman proposed that the club donate £50 to the air ambulance. This was seconded by Ron Perkins and agreed.
Tony Roberts was thanked for providing teas and coffees at the meetings for which the club had paid out just £3 for ingredients.
Ron first of all presented the 3rd place trophy for the 2006 competition to Tony Roberts to correct an error from last year.
This year there had been fewer competitions due to the weather. The winner for 2007 was Tony Roberts. This years competition was a two stage one with competitors being required to have the model judged at the club and then flown at the subsequent flying stage. The aggregate score determined the winner.
There was discussion about distribution of the newsletter by email. Paul Joslyn pointed out that despite a number of requests he had email addresses for few members and many preferred to receive a hard copy. It was agreed to again request email addresses which might also be used to alert members of forthcoming events.
The subject of flying times at Dreadnought was raised. Paul Simmonds suggested that we have a more flexible approach as there were often days in the week when the weather was not suitable for flying, thus there would not in practice be flying seven days per week. It was questioned why we had removed permission to fly electric models on Mondays and Fridays. It was explained that in discussion with the managing agents about additional hours for park flyers they understood that there was no flying on Mondays and Fridays. The wording on the club sheets was ambiguous and Oracle said they wished to retain the two non flying days as per the agreement. Thus the new list of flying times had removed the ambiguity and made clear the position.
The secretary was concerned about regulation of the non flying days if it went to a more flexible arrangement. Whilst this summer had been such that there days in each week where flying was not possible, in a good summer it was often possible to fly on all seven days, but restricting this to five would be practically impossible to manage. The secretary agreed to speak again with the managing agents to see whether there was likely to be any flexibility. He suggested this needed to be done carefully to avoid losing some of the flexibility of the present system.
The issue of car parking also was raised, particularly with the possibility of further restrictions on the roadside parking. The secretary agreed to speak to the management about the possibility of using the compound next to the security building.
The issue about the canoe club event was raised. The club had only found out at the last moment which had meant the cancellation of flying and rapid response to prevent damage to the strip from car parking. The secretary explained that although the management had been given contact details and had promised to inform the club of any events, this had not happened. He would contact the management to try to ensure that the club receives a copy of any list of events. It was explained that the agreement with Oracle allowed for the holding of such events but did say the club should be informed. Further attempts will be made to ensure that details are available sufficiently early.
Joe Dray proposed that Dave Grey be given free membership of the club for his work with training. This was seconded by Ron Perkins and agreed. Others who had assisted with training throughout the year were thanked for their efforts.
Tony Roberts recounted an incident where a non member had turned up with the intention of flying. The person claimed not to realise that the site was private believing that anyone could fly there. In addition the person did not have insurance.
Members were reminded that it was mandatory to carry their membership with them and if they had any doubts about any other person at the flying field they should ask to see the membership.
There is a sign on the pegboard and the committee will consider further signage.
Tony Roberts was thanked for his work for the club over the years and he and Ron were thanked for the tea and coffee making at the club evenings.
Meeting closed at 21.25
Following the meeting Robin Cawsey was co-opted onto the committee.