Persons Present
Chris Bromley FSMAE Chairman
Mike Colling FSMAE Vice Chairman / Wigan
Derek Gilbert Secretary and Treasurer / Sale MFC
Roy Allam Achievement Scheme Co-ordinator / FCMFA
David Lloyd-Jones Area Delegate & PRO / CCMAA
Sue Reeves Education Co-ordinator / PMAG
Gerry Ferer Timperley MF
Tom Anyon ACE / FCMFA
Steve Ogden PMAG
Mike Eccles Southport MAC
Alan Cantwell Bury metro
Martin Watts Sherrifhales
Ian Mansfiels Sherrifhales
John O'Donnell Country Member
8 voting
The meeting commenced at 20. 04
Apologies for absence:
Keith Barker, Andy Ellison and Jim Radcliffe
Correspondence
None
Minutes of the previous meetings
Corrections - none
Minutes proposed by GF, seconded by SO, voting F: 8, A: 0, Ab: 0
Matters Arising
The proposed amended bye laws were again discussed and CB confirmed that the
work done had produced a much reduced document and under 500 gms were excluded
and the main thrust of the document was noise nuisance and required powered
aircraft to comply with the noise code. It was noted that this was the agreement
with DEFRA, it was still to be approved by the Home Office which should follow
and then all local authorities should be looking at the amended byelaws.. GF
was pleased to note that the document referred to suggested discussion with
the BMFA.
KB asked if the delay in processing memberships, which he had mentioned at a
previous meeting, had been looked into. CB reported that in this instance of
a 17 day delay included 3 weekends and was in fact only 11 working days. This
was a busy time and was acceptable. Today they were working on a 3 day turn
round.
IM noted that his club was told a club application had been lost and a second
one with cheque was sent. The first one was subsequently found and cheque banked,
but the club only received a credit note. CB promised to look into this and
ensure a refund was made.
Re Smoke, it was noted that Power Tech were concerned, but no ban made yet.
It is likely this may be done at the Nationals, but not yet confirmed.
SR reported that the visit to Tunstall was not done as no help available.
DLJ and JO'D reported that they had visited an alternative venue at a social
club in Winstanley- near Wigan. It would cost £10 , was licensed and had
good car parking. It seemed ideal, other than it being a very large room , 300+,
so we may be a little lost in one corner. This generated considerable discussion
as to what was the best position in the area for meetings, or should we rotate
them around the area. SO felt we should look at the concentration of clubs rather
than a central geographical area. CB felt that 3/4s of the clubs were in the
Liverpool and Manchester conurbations but would bring the "club map"
to the next meeting and report. It was suggested that we should have a separate
area for West Midlands which would allow many clubs in that region to attend
area meetings. This prompted J O'D to ask why IM had travelled so far from that
region on this his first visit.
IM stated that he was turning away members because of the need for them all
to be BMFA members and was there any way around this. CB explained that one
of the reasons for affiliation was for the insurance company to be able to extend,
at no cost, the committee cover, employers liability cover etc. to the club,
which should be of major comfort to the committee and to the land owner. It
was also noted that the BMFA do a lot of work on behalf of and supporting model
flyers everywhere and by being a member we are all contributing to this support
and perhaps he should consider this as well.
Officer's Reports
The Secretary, on behalf of KB, asked that the meeting thank all those who helped
with the indoor meetings.
SR noted that 6 schools were entered for the Flight Challenge from the area
and asked the meeting to contact them to offer support.
None of the other officers had anything specific to report.
Council Agenda and Minutes
Full Council agenda 5th May 2007
The agenda was reviewed, principle discussion points were:
9. Some doubt if Tech Council could ratify record claims, the meeting had no
objections to them doing this.
1. JO'D noted that there was no ceiling height mentioned.
He went on to mention that the records system needs revamping, too many categories
and the records rule book should be updated. CB commented that he would prefer
we do nothing as another area is already considering bringing the subject up.
If they do not, however, we should consider a proposal at our next area meeting.
JO'D also wondered why we can't have records published in the BMFA News.
6. JF asked for more detail of the proposed expenditure. 6(d) It was agreed
to support the control line purchase. 6(e) It was agreed to support the £1,119
mini PA system as long as it was made available for other events if needed.
SO felt it was expensive.
14.The proposal for the appointment of a full time PRO was discussed and in
principle the meeting agreed to it. The proposal by Mid West to restrict entries
on the forum to BMFA members was rejected as it was likely to create excessive
admin and most of the problems had been caused by members anyway. Our own proposals
were read by DLJ, the only comment was JO'D suggested the minutes be removed
after say three meetings.
No other specific voting instructions were given to the delegate.
Area Fly-in and competitions
Shawbury has been booked for 22 July.
No date or details of the North Staffs event received yet.
Rochdale indoor meeting dates agreed and the sports hall has been booked. The
first meeting of the season will be on 21st October 2007.
DLJ reported that planning for the Eddie Riding was going well with a lot of
interest in the new class.
Proposal for ACE
DLJ reported that D Perchard had withdrawn his application.
Ray Jones wished to propose W Seward. RA was concerned that he was not listed
as an examiner and would have a word with him.
CB said that he was concerned that the process of the appointment was going
on too long, it had taken 10 months so far.
SO asked what was being done with his application to which RA replied that all
but one of the ACEs would not support his appointment.
There followed a heated discussion which was brought to an end by the Chairman
declaring that SO had in the past worked hard for the area and many of the comments
made tonight were disgraceful.
Examiners' Meeting
This topic was carried forward to the next meeting.
Any Other Business
Bury reported that many people were being defrauded by advertisers on the on
line BMFA classifieds. CB replied that the administrator can now ban adverts
and have authorised users only. Bury said that it seemed the BMFA was not doing
anything, we need to tell everyone something is being done. CB offered to speak
to the webmaster to see what could be published.
Timperley noticed that there was very little being posted on the forum recently.
Bury suggested that this was due to all the bad publicity having frightened
people away and suggested to the meeting "do we need a forum". A discussion
followed but no firm conclusion.
Timperley raised the subject of the Campaign Against Vetting and circulated the Times article in April. CB stated that there is some legislation to come and the BMFA is working with the CP Agency and there will be a statement in the next BMFA News. There is a lot going on behind the scenes and in particular there is the possibility of criminal liability against a committee which would be uninsurable. This will affect all sports, not just ours, so all sporting organisations will work against it.
JO'D raised the future of the Flight Challenge, this was thought to need some time to discuss and was carried forward as an agenda item for the next meeting.
The meeting closed at 22.35
These minutes are provisional until approved at the next meeting