Persons Present
Steve Ogden Area Secretary/ PMAG
Roy Allam Area V/Chairman / Ach Sch Co-Ord / FCMFA.
Tom Anyon Blackpool MHC/A.C.E.
Derek Gilbert Area Treasurer / Sale MAC
David Lloyd-Jones Area Pro./CLMG
Mike Colling FSMAE Area Delegate / Wigan MFC
Sue Reeves Area Education Co-Ord/PMAG
Wayne Pendleton Area R/C Comp Sec/Academy Flyers
Alan Cantwell Area Indoor Comp sec
Mike Eccles Southport MAC
Alan Miller Clwyd SA
Graham Pile Runcorn MA
S.Headland Rochdale MAC
Ken Griffiths Blackburn & DMAC
Keith Barker Rochdale MAC
15 Persons Present 10Eligible to vote. Meeting opened at 8.05pm.
1) APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Malcolm and June Harding sent apologies for not being able to attend. Chris
Bromley was ill. Max Lloyd, Geof Pomfret, and Charles Vandries also sent their
apologies for not being able to attend.
2) CORRESPONDENCE
There was no correspondence to be discussed.
3) MINUTE OF THE LAST MEETING
Meeting on the 12/2/02
There were some spelling corrections noted.
These were proposed as a true record by BMHC and seconded by AF
Passed unanimously.
4) MATTERS ARISING
Mike Colling FSMAE informed the meeting that since the last meeting Salisbury
Plain had become unusable for the FF Nat's. This was because of environmental
concerns.
5) OFFICERS REPORTS
Mike Colling read a brief report from Geof Pomfret (Area Scale Comp Sec) concerning
the Eddie Riding event at Woodvale. He announced that the organisers of Woodvale
would be meeting the costs involved with Mr and Mrs Riding attending and presenting
the trophies. He also stated that only Jetex powered models will be allowed
for that section of the event i.e. No Rapier rocket motors. It was expected
that we could have as many as 60 entries this year.
David Lloyd Jones asked if it would be better to produce our own certificates for the event rather the using the standard BMFA ones? The meeting asked DLJ (Area Pro) to check out the cost of doing this.
Derek Gilbert (Area Treasurer) announced that we had received the surplus funds from the office and this came to £190.
Wayne Pendleton (Area RC Comp Sec) said that the Fly -In would take place on 28th July at the Academy Flyers site as per previous events. He added that flying was free but it would cost £1 to park. Advertising for the Fly-in was being handled by DLJ who was to put details on his webpages and also was to send information to BMFA News for publication.
Tom Anyon (Editor PNW) said that it appeared that the last edition was only sent out to the 52 clubs that had affiliated up to that date. Steve Ogden (NW Area Sec) added that he had sent in an official complaint but had received only a verbal explanation of what had occurred. He would confer with Tom to supply the office with an exhaustive list. Steve Ogden said that he had submitted minutes for publication several times but for some reason they had not appeared on the pages. He added that he would try again.
DLJ asked if we could send out PNW to our country members and how much would this cost? After conferring the committee felt that it would cost about 35p per member per posting. DLJ suggested that if a country member would like to receive PNW the member could supply stamped addressed envelopes? It was agreed to continue this discussion at the next meeting.
Roy Allam (Area Ach Sch Co-Ord) reported that some clubs are still having problems filling in affiliation and club instructor forms, which makes assessing the schemes difficult sometimes. He said that he had several letters concerning the difference between registered and approved instructors. He added that he would confer with Chris Bromley with the view to publishing something in the BMFA News to help clarify the situation.
Roy added that as yet received the affiliation forms of 7 clubs with club examiners. And that he had received resignations from 2 Club Examiners one of which was Paul Quinn whom Roy believed to be the longest serving examiner having held the position for 23 years. Roy has written to him thanking him for his service.
Sue Reeves (Area Ed Co-Ord) stated that she was arranging a "Fun Copter Fly-In" at her local museum. This will take place on 6th June at the Potteries Museum in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. And the models will be built and flown within the SPITFIRE Gallery quite apt perhaps?
Sue Reeves also reported that she had attended the BMAC planning meeting which was very interesting. Mike Colling who also attended proposed a new section to the event for older children. This was to be a design and flight challenge for 14-16 year olds. They would have to design a rubber-powered model using supplied materials, which would be flown at the challenge with the best 2 from 6 flights scoring. The winning design would be published in the BMFA News. It was also suggested that a change in date for the challenge from December to June may increase participation.
Sue Reeves also asked for a small budget of £10 to provide prizes at
the event.
This was proposed by PMAG and seconded by Oldham MFC and was passed unanimously.
6) COUNCIL AGENDA
Mike Colling (Area Delegate) reported that he had attended the last Area's Council
meeting on 9th Feb. Among the items discussed were Area's funding Mike added
that this had been discussed at least 5 times over recent years with no clear
conclusions. Northern Area was tasked to produce a pro-forma, which may help
to judge the needs of all the Area's better.
Mike also commented about an Area's delegate carrying out the Area's instructions at Council meetings. Mike reminded the meeting that new information may arise at a meeting which may alter the delegates opinion on which way to vote. And also that each delegate, as a director of the BMFA may have to choose an option not perhaps in the best interests of his or her Area, but for the good of the BMFA.
Mike added that there were calls for slight changes to the Power Achievement Scheme Book 3. Keith Barker (Rochdale MAC) asked if all examiners could be notified of any changes to the handbook, as they would be the one's actually operating the scheme on the ground.
Mike also highlighted the Northern Area's proposal to remove a member's "B" cert following an incident. At this point Keith Barker (Rochdale MAC) produced a document which was alleged included relevant information to the case but was not presented at the Council meeting. The Area's delegate agreed that he had not seen the document. The document was not read but its contents were accepted on the word of the club delegate presenting it. The club delegate when pressed would not reveal the source from which he had obtained this evidence. The meeting was concerned over this matter and asked Steve Ogden (Area Sec) to investigate further.
Mike finally added that the development officer was to be asked to attend Council meetings in special circumstances and that he would be requested to inform any Area of his intention to give a talk in their region.
7) NW AREA RC INDOOR FLY-IN
Steve Ogden (NW Area Sec) said that the Fly-In had taken place on 3rd Feb and
that all that had attended were very pleased with the venue. Unfortunately as
a new venue it was not that well attended with about 50 people in total but
only 18 paying to fly. This meant that the event ran at a loss. Alan Cantwell
restated how pleased the flyers were but thought that if we where to repeat
the Fly-In a cheaper venue would need to be found.
The meeting felt that we should organise another event subject to finding a cheaper venue. The meeting also asked Steve Ogden to write to Bagnals Models and Hillcott Electronics, to thank them for their sponsorship in the form of prizes.
8) AOB
A,
Rochdale voiced concerns about the proliferation of ready to fly "Park
Flyers" type models. After a short discussion it was agreed that area should
ask Chris Bromley for his comments on the matter.
The Meeting ended at10.40pm.These minutes are provisional until approved at the next meeting
SF Ogden NW Area Sec