Persons Present
David Lloyd-Jones Chairman & Delegate/CCMAA
Mike Colling FSMAE Vice Chairman & Wigan MAC
Derek Gilbert Secretary & Treasurer/Sale MFC
Keith Barker Webmaster/ Rochdale MAC
John O'Donnell Timperley MF
Tom Anyon Fylde Coast MFA
Syd Bostock-Lawton FSMAE Phoenix
Gerry Ferer Timperley MF
Jim Radcliffe Timperley &DMAC
Mike Eccles Southport MAC
David Cooper Bury Metro FC
Neville Toft BATS
10 voting
The meeting started at 8.05pm
Apologies for absence.
S Ogden, R Allam, W Howman, A Cantwell and F Fletcher.
Correspondence.
Following the discussion at the previous meeting, Neville Toft explained in
more detail why he had raised the E Mails re L & M and Teggs Nose. It appeared
he was not happy in the way the BMFA had not been helpful, particularly by providing
risk assessments for the local council without any review by the club concerned.
After some discussion KB suggested that he speak to Kevin Watson of the Blackburn
club who has had some experience of risk assessments.
DLJ reported an E Mail from Ian Hale who felt he had not been made welcome at the Blackpool & Fylde Elec Fly In. DLJ agreed to speak to him further.
DLJ read an E Mail from S Ogden and DLJ's reply clearly stating that there
had been no comments made at N W Area meetings accusing dishonesty and explaining
why a new stand manager had been appointed.
DJG stated that he had spoken to Steve Ogden and agreed that £75.00 of
the sale of goods float would be repaid. DLJ noted that he would call and collect
the stock we were retaining on Saturday next and would also ask for the cash
float.
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6th May.
Corrections
Page 4 - Officers' reports - "in another area" to be replaced by "outside
his normal area".
Page 5 - "if we needed" to be replaced by "as to whether we needed"
The amended minutes were approved by the meeting.
Matters Arising.
John O'Donnell asked if DLJ had raised the subject of postal timing for the
flight challenge at the council meeting. DLJ apologised, saying that he had
forgotten to.
Club visits by BMFA officials were discussed again and CCMAA proposed and Sale
seconded that the Area submit a proposal to Council "If any visits to clubs
or flying sites are arranged by Head Office staff on behalf of the BMFA, whether
by invitation or otherwise, then the Area Committee concerned should be informed
as soon as possible in advance of the visit, unless the club or organization
specifically requested otherwise."
The proposal was approved F 9: A 1: Ab 0.
Officers' Reports.
The Treasurer gave a brief report on the draft accounts for the year to 31 March
2008 and commented that whilst we had spent some £270 more on the Eddie
Riding we had still generated a surplus of £177, when in fact, we were
looking to reduce the accumulated funds.
There followed a discussion of how we could reduce the funds we were carrying
including giving free windsocks to clubs who attended future meetings. It was
agreed to carry this topic forward to the next meeting for more detailed consideration.
The webmaster asked if clubs could give him details of their events to publicise.
Council Meetings.
Full Council Meeting 10th May
The Delegate reviewed the minutes in detail for the meeting, points of interest
discussed were:
Sam 35 now has an official voting seat on the Free Flight Tech Committee
Increase of the 3rd party insurance cover to £10m is being considered
Chris Bromley offered to run the Top Gun event as part of the Nationals showline
One man one vote will continue for another year for the November elections
The N W Area proposal to list "Honours" on the web site was withdrawn
as by the time of the meeting these had already been included on the BMFA web
site
Rules for the Humbrol Plate were agreed including only allowing entries from
BMFA members
A web site "flyyourplane.com" sponsored by BMFA Education Working
Group is now up and running
This prompted thanks to our web master as our web site usually has the BMFA
minutes posted before they appear on the BMFA site!
Area Council Meeting Agenda 7th June
The Delegate reviewed the agenda for the meeting, points of interest discussed
were:
The meeting was concerned for the motives behind the production of Log Books
for examiners. There was some concern that in future examiners may be judged
on the number of test undertaken, which has no relevance to the standard of
the examiner.
The meeting could not understand the need for "Qualified Instructors"
and were concerned if the BMFA were looking to only allow such a person to instruct
at clubs in future.
Area Fly-ins
DLJ confirmed the Eddie Riding and Shawbury were on schedule.
KB raised the point that, to encourage more interest, should Shawbury only be
high standard Scale models. DLJ said that he does allow ARTF semi-scale and
noted that he expects 50 plus aircraft, as well as the Shawbury club members,
so no need to change anything.
AOB
The Blackburn Club had E mailed the area that they were concerned that the Spectrum
6 set included a loose battery holder for the transmitter. Should the BMFA not
be talking to the manufacturer/model shops to discourage this as welded packs
are the safe and recommended method and in fact today are quite cheap.
DLJ said he would raise this at the Area Council meeting.
The meeting closed at 10.30pm.
These minutes are provisional until approved at the next area meeting.