British Model Flying Association North West Area


Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the B.M.F.A. North West Area held on 30 November 2010 at St Aidan's Parish Centre, Winstanley, Wigan.

Persons Present
David Lloyd-Jones Chairman & Delegate/Macclesfield
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
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
Clive Needham Oldham & D MAC
Peter Maw Bickershaw MFC

10 voting
The meeting commenced at 8.05 pm

Apologies for Absence
Ray Jones, Bill Cowell and Richard Budd.
Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
It was agreed to change pages 3 & 6 references to the CO at Chetwynd to CO at Shawbury amd on page 6 competitions changed to area centralised competitions.
The meeting approved the minutes For: 9, Against: 0, Abst: 1

Matters Arising
Jerry Ferer asked if there had been any progress on the use of Chetwynd. The Chairman confirmed there had not, we were still waiting to hear when a new CO was to be appointed.

Officer's Reports
Chairman
The Chairman, David Lloyd-Jones reported that he felt it had been a good year for the North WestArea with the indoor and outdoor events being well supported. He also thanked Alex Whittaker and Mike Parry for their continued support and publicity of our events.
He also thanked Keith Barker for the time spent on the area web site which many found useful.
The area has the largest number of clubs, but he was disappointed that attendance at the area meetings continued to be poor.
The Chairman informed the meeting that Chris Bromley was still very ill, but he understood that he was improving and wished him a speedy recovery.
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 the proposal regarding rule changes had been redrafted and submitted for consideration by full council. [this was later withdrawn jn advance of the full council meeting allowing it to be re-submitted if the publishing of the rule books falls behind again.]
The Secretary noted that there was again a slight fall in attendance of the area meetings and was open to ideas to improve club interest in our meetings.

Treasurer
Derek Gilbert, as Treasurer, reviewed the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2010 which showed a surplus of expenditure over income of £257 bringing the surplus funds now to £5,489. He went on to explain the major items of income and expenditure.
The accounts were accepted by a unanimous vote of the meeting,

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 reminded the meeting that he relied very much on contributions from others. He also attended all the area shows manning the BMFA stand.
The indoor meetings at Rochdale continue to be well supported

Achievement Scheme Coordinator
Roy Allam, Achievement Scheme Coordinator, reported that it had been again a very quiet year, probably due to a combination of poor flying weather and that most clubs are now well staffed with examiners to conduct A and B tests.
Roy was disappointed again not to receive a full list of club examiners . It was suggested that the Chairman raise this at the next meeting in Leicester..
Roy wished to thank all the ACE's for their work and would recommend that they all be ratified for next year.

Area Chief Examiners Reports
Tom Anyon. Ray Jones, David Lloyd-Jones, Richard Budd,and Bill Cowell's reports were read to the meeting, all reported low levels of testing again. There was no report from Andy Ellison.
Richard Budd had mentioned that he wondered if we needed another examiners meeting or demonstration of standards. Peter Maw offered the Bickershaw field if one was arranged.
Roy mentioned that we had a heli flyer in the IOM who wished to take a B heli test, posing a problem - should he travel to the UK or should we fund an area ACE to travel to the Isle of Man? No doubt this will be raised at a future area meeting.
Roy proposed that all examiners be ratified for next year and this was seconded by CCMAA and approved by the meeting unanimously.


Free Flight Secretary
Phil Owens, Area Free Flight Secretary, noted the limitations of the field at Rufford is still a problem and only 6 of the 8 competitions flown due to crops. Flyers had done well in national events. They have had a problem with a group of wild fowl shooters who said they had rights over the field, we are waiting to hear from the landowner if this is the case.
Phil ended his report by telling the meeting that he will not be able to continue as Free Flight Secretary for the coming year so the position was left vacant and Phil was asked to talk to the other members of the Free Flight Group to find a volunteer to take his place.

Scale Secretary
David Lloyd-Jones reported that the Shawbury event went very well with about 50 models on the airfield and would like to thank the Shawbury club for their help in the organisation.
The Eddie Riding competition went well, despite the very poor weather in the evening. With the difficulties of Jetex and availability of Rapiers he was considering a new class of catapult launched jet models for next year.
Peter Maw offered Bickershaw for a fly-in event for next year.

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 2012 AGM:
Chairman David Lloyd-Jones
Treasurer Derek Gilbert
Delegate David Lloyd-Jones
PRO Keith Barker
Auditor Jim Radcliffe

The meeting also re-elected, unopposed:
Webmaster: Keith Barker
Free Flight Sec position vacant
Scale Comp Sec: David Lloyd-Jones
Indoor Sec: Keith Barker
All to hold office until the 2011 AGM

Date of the 2011 AGM
The meeting proposed a provisional date of 15 November, subject to confirmation at the next area meeting.

On behalf of the meeting Jerry Ferer thanked the area officials for the work done during the past year.
The meeting ended at 9.35 pm


These minutes are provisional until approved at the next annual general meeting