WINDSOCK
– Q1
The
Newsletter of READING & District Model Aircraft Club
At the AGM none of the 100+ members was willing to help out with the club newsletter so there may be no more written communication from Reading & District MAC. The web site at www.rdmac.org.uk will in future be run by Neil Cooper who will try to keep it up to date and there will be notices posted by the peg-board at the flying field to cover major happenings. Other than that you’ll need to come along to club meetings if you want to find out what’s going on.
Forthcoming Events
NOTE : Until the end of April meetings will be at St Barnabas Church Hall, Emmer Green. From May 4th meetings will be at the flying field.
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Tues February 17 |
Club night at the Museum of Berkshire Aviation, Woodley. Meet outside at 20:00 |
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Saturday February 28 |
Indoor Flying at Reading Bus Garage |
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Tues March 16 |
St Barnabas Church Hall – speaker on the subject of "Indoor Flying" |
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Sunday April 4 |
Floatplane Fly In at Beale Park – see below |
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Sunday April 18 |
Pilot of the year – 1st event – See below |
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Sunday April 25 |
Ascot Show |
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Tues May 4 |
From this date all club nights will be at the flying field and will include Training. |
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Sunday May 9 |
Pilot of the Year, second event – see below |
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Sunday May 22/23 |
Sandown Show |
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Saturday July 3 |
Enstone Cup. Fly In at Enstone, start 13:00 |
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Sunday July 11 |
Pilot of the Year, third event – see below |
Dave Belcher has organised another Indoor Event at Reading Bus Garage, Gt Knolly's St, Reading. It will be available from 12:30 to 17:00 and all are welcome. If you've not been before see event reports below for some pictures of the last few events. Please park in the public car park on Gt Knolly's St not in the grounds of Reading Buses. There will be no charge but we may need to limit the numbers so please contact Dave Belcher in advance to let him know you will be coming (Email dave@de5ktop.fsnet.co.uk or phone).
4th April, Floatplane Fly In,
Beale Park
The Spring Floatplane Fly In will be on Sunday April 4th on the usual lake at Beale Park, near Pangbourne from approx. 9am to Dusk. Anyone with a BMFA 'A' Certificate is welcome to fly. All Pilots should purchase a ticket for entry to Beale Park. If you've never been before you can find a map on the website and there are plenty of pictures of the lake and of the wide variety of planes that turn up in the event reports on the site. If you need more details feel free to contact Bob Roper on 01491 671232.
Pilot of the Year Award
This new award will be held over 4 events with the best 3 scores to count. Each event will take place at the flying field on Sunday morning 10:30 to 12:00. All events are intended to be straightforward but challenging for the pilot. You should be able to enter with most types of model, no special models will be required and any member may enter. More details at the first event on 25th April.
Annual General Meeting
Unfortunately due to illness and a computer crash the full minutes of the AGM are not available. The following are a few notes of the highlights (from memory so may not be 100% accurate) :
Club Fees - the club fees are to remain unchanged for 2004
Flying Site – little progress with the Bucklebury site. It was decided to look again for a new site. Tony Roberts and Dick Tiller will co-ordinate the search.
Election of Officers - Mike Russell, Glenn Roberts and Steve Lewin resigned. Neil Viney and Neil Cooper joined the committee, other committee members were re-elected. The posts of Newsletter Editor and Training Co-ordinator were unfilled due to lack of volunteers. It was also decided that the posts of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer were to be held for a period of 3 years with only one of these posts coming up for re-election each year. This is to ensure continuity of management and the continued security of the by now substantial club funds.
Charitable Donations - the Thames Valley Air Ambulance has replaced the Red Cross as the Club’s adopted charity for the annual charitable donation. Any additional money raised as a result of running events etc may be still donated to the Red Cross at the committee’s discretion.
Free memberships were voted for Dave Grey and Brian Smith for their efforts on behalf of the club.
Committee Meeting Jan 14th 2004
Apologies were received from Andy Stretton, Kevin Mercer, Neil Cooper and Tony Roberts
1. Discussion took place about communication with members pending a volunteer to edit/publish the newsletter. It was decided to place a bulletin board by the peg board at the flying field to contain information about coming events. Dave Belcher to action.
2. Flying sites. Tony Roberts intends to meet with Dick Tiller to plan a strategy. No progress to report to date.
3. A number of events have been organised including Enstone, Beale Park Floatplane events and a new "Pilot of the Year" competition. There will also be an annual award to "The Most Improved Pilot" which will be voted by the Club committee. Both awards will be presented at the Club AGM. See above for more event details.
4. The next committee meeting will be Thursday 18th March.
Meeting closed at 21:30
RDMAC Online
The club website address is http://www.rdmac.org.uk
The general email address for the club is club@rdmac.org.uk
The Bit at the End
Well this is it for me. It’s been fun although, as you may have noticed, Editor often involves not only editing but roving reporting, taking the pictures and writing a fairly high proportion of the newsletter. In many ways I’m sorry I can’t continue but I’ll soon be living 150+ miles away from Reading and I guess you could do with a rest from me.
Have fun but if you should decide to write something interesting don’t send it to me. I hope the new Webmaster Neil Cooper will be interested and you can probably get him by email at the general club address above.
Steve Lewin