Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the B.M.F.A. North West Area held on
1 December 2009 at St Aidan's Parish Centre, Winstanley, Wigan.
Persons Present
David Lloyd-Jones Chairman & Delegate/CCMAA
Derek Gilbert Secretary & Treasurer/Sale MFC
Mike Colling FSMAE Vice Chairman/Wigan
Keith Barker PRO/Webmaster/ Rochdale MAC
Roy Allam Achievement Sch Co-ord/FCMFA
Wayne Howman Education Co-ord/Knutsford MAC
John O'Donnell Timperley MF
Tom Anyon Fylde Coast MFA
Gerry Ferer Timperley MF
Jim Radcliffe Timperley &DMFC
Wayne Pendleton CCMAA
Phil Owens NW Free Flight Group
Steve Ogden PMAG
Sue Reeves PMAG
Mike Eccles Southport MAC
10 voting
The meeting commenced at 8.10 pm
Apologies for Absence
Ray Jones, Andy Ellison, Bill Cowell and Frank Fletcher.
Minutes of the previous meeting
CCMA proposed and Knutsford seconded that the minutes of the Annual General
Meeting for 2008 are approved. The meeting approved the minutes F: 9, A: 0,
Abst: 1
Matters Arising
John O'Donnell asked if we had looked at any other free flight sites other than
Chetwynd and the Chairman confirmed we had not, we were waiting to hear when
a new CO at Chetwynd was to be appointed.
Officer's Reports
Chairman
The Chairman, David Lloyd-Jones reported that there had been no problems with
meeting dates this year but despite there being well over one hundred clubs
in the area the attendance at the meetings was disappointing. John O'Donnell
asked did we know why clubs no longer seemed interested in the area. The Secretary
replied that he thought in the past the area acted as a link between the clubs
and the BMFA and in the past clubs generally were competition minded. Today
with full time senior staff at the end of a phone at Leicester and many of the
clubs minor problems being answered by the information on the BMFA web site
perhaps they do not feel they have the need to attend area meetings as regularly
as before and generally there appears to be a very much reduced interest in
competitions by most club members.
The Chairman continued to review the area events, despite a reduction in entrants
the Eddie Riding competition went well and was delighted with the magazine coverage
by Alex Whittaker. Gerry Ferrer commented on the lack of the results appearing
on Free Flight web sites and was reminded that Alex Whittaker's articles included
all the results as did the N W Area web site. The scale fly in was a success
once again and the Chairman thanked the Shawbury club members for their help
organising the event. He also mentioned the Bury Metro club hosted a successful
general flying event sponsored by the area which was well attended by both the
flying fraternity and the general public. The indoor events were also well supported
and the hall had been booked for the rest of the winter season.
The Chairman thanked all those who attended the meetings and organised the events
and looked forward to seeing them all again next year.
Vice Chairman
Mike Colling FSMAE reported that as well as attending area meetings he had assisted
with the Eddie Riding competition.
Secretary
Derek Gilbert reported that his year as Secretary had been quite uneventful,
attendances were a little down again on last year.
The reasons for the fall was discussed again and it was agreed to write to all
area club chairmen to encourage attendance and perhaps find a common reason
for the lack of interest.
Treasurer
Derek Gilbert, as Treasurer, reviewed the accounts for the year ended 31st March
2009 which showed a excess of expenditure over income of £1,016 bringing
the surplus funds now to £5,233. He went on to explain the major items
of income and expenditure of which the main item of expenditure being the windsocks
given to all area clubs.
The Treasurer thanked Gerry and Jim for giving up their time to audit the accounts for us.
PRO
The PRO, Keith Barker, reported that he had maintained the area web site during
the year and was trying to put the BMFA minutes on when received for all area
members to refer to. He also attended all the area shows manning the BMFA stand.
The indoor meetings at Rochdale were again very successful
With good attendances allowing only a small loss to be funded by the area. The
last meeting on a good outdoor flying day had 33 flyers attending and the hall
has been booked for the rest of the indoor season.
Achievement Scheme Coordinator
Roy Allam, Achievement Scheme Coordinator, reported that two ACE's were out
of action due to illness, but this had not posed a problem as requests for tests
were limited again this year.
Roy was disappointed not to receive a full list of club examiners again this
year and it was suggested that he takes this up directly with Dave Phipps.
Roy wished to thank all the ACE's for their work and would recommend that they
all be ratified for next year.
Roy proposed that all examiners be ratified for next year and this was seconded
by Southport and approved by the meeting unanimously.
Area Chief Examiners Reports
Bill Cowell and David Lloyd-Jones had not done any testing due to illness, but
both hoped to be able to return to full time availability next year.
Andy Ellison, Tom Anyon and Ray Jones reports were read to the meeting, all
reported low levels of testing again. Andy reported a number of "A"
tests but these were mainly slope.
After the meeting Richard Budd apologised for missing the meeting and not drafting
a report as he had been working in London.
Free Flight Secretary
Phil Owens, Area Free Flight Secretary, noted the weather had been a major problem
this year with only two of the six competitions flown. The limitations of the
field at Rufford is still a problem and we are waiting for the new CO to take
over at Chetwynd so we can start discussions again to use that airfield.
Election of Officers
All the retiring Officers were prepared to continue in office and as there was
no-one wishing to stand against them, they were all re-elected to hold office
until the 2011 AGM:
Vice Chairman Mike Colling FSMAE
Secretary Derek Gilbert
Achievement Scheme Coordinator Roy Allam
Education Coordinator Wayne Howman
Auditor Gerry Ferer
The meeting also re-elected, unopposed:
Webmaster: Keith Barker
Free Flight Sec Phil Owens
Scale Comp Sec: David Lloyd-Jones
Indoor Sec: Keith Barker
All to hold office until the 2010 AGM
Date of the 2010 AGM
As there was no one present from St Aidan's who could confirm booking dates,
30th November was approved, subject to the room being available.
The meeting ended at 9.25 pm
These minutes are provisional until approved at the next annual general meeting