Hi everyone, this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week and a summary of the last committee meeting
Last week:
Road
As you know we are in constant battle with our road and we must preserve our precious airfield. Vehicles are driving off road unnecessarily. Please keep to the road, the holes are not deep so if you drive slowly then, a) you will be able to maintain a good lookout for gliders and people and b) keep the airfield in good condition. Howard is very close to proposing a solution and has done a fantastic job on evaluating the options. We will be visiting other sites soon to evaluate their solutions.
Weekend outlook:
Your team this weekend is : Chris Alldis, Clive Crocker, Walter Baumann, Denise Hughes, David Brown, Glyn Macarthur, Mark Wakem
Forthcoming events:
Midland Automobile Club
Every year they have a rally which involves them using our road to cross the airfield and this year it will be on the 22nd of January (weather permitting). They have been extremely diligent in asking our permission and have confirmed they will stick to the track (see note about the road!!!). They will try not to disrupt our operation.
Winter lectures
January is the cruellest month. The only day so far of snow and it forced us to cancel the Pete Harvey talk. The BGA chair will be a feature of next years lectures.
We now have 3 booked during February and March. We have Hugh Browning the driving force on the safety initiatives, Mike Groves of Skylaunch and the National Trust. Please do make an effort to attend, it’s a great night and the trick is to fly in the day, have the talk then a really good supper.
11 Feb National trust
Patrick Evans. Patrick is from the National Trust and will give a light hearted talk on The Long Mynd.
4 March Hugh Browning
This is essential for all glider pilots, believe me Hugh knows everything about every club in the country and will not only inspire you but make you a safer and better pilot.
11 March Mike Groves from Skylaunch. This will be a fascinating talk about winches and winching.
Juniors
We will be hosting the BGA Juniors Winter expedition on the 1st weekend of Feb.
The Club will be running a course for junior members over the Easter holidays from 10 to 13 April with a dedicated instructor and glider. Junior members may attend for just one day or more. Any members interested should book a place through the office
Llanbedr Expedition
Mike Greenwood has booked the week of 11th March in Llanbedr taking the K21 again. Please contact the office to book a slot.
20 March get checked week
Steve Male is running this popular week, it’s a great opportunity to come along and make sure you are ready for the soaring season which I guarantee is going to be brilliant this year. Don’t forget as Andy Holmes told me “April is when all the records are set” so you will be ready for the great weather. We have circulated the details separately. Contact the office if you haven’t yet received them
AGM
8 April 17:00. Please put this into your diary. We intend a slightly different format this year with the AGM, followed by presentations on the options for going forward. We have had a couple of good years but we face stormy times ahead. We must strengthen our position now while we can and your input and feedback are essential.
15 April Easter Recruitment day
We desperately need an owner for this, please contact myself or Sarah Platt if you would be willing to do this. You don’t have to do all the work, there will be plenty of help. You just have to coordinate to make it happen.
Aim higher course
18 -19 March.
Please put this date in your diary, and book in with the office now. We are so privileged to have Kevin Atkinson to do this course for us. He will cover:
How the sky works
How to work the sky
Going further and faster
Self-teaching skill drills and self-tasking
And will be the best preparation you could think of before the cross country season starts in earnest. This is proving very attractive to visitors from far and wide so I do encourage Mynd members to book up while you can.
June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical
I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates. This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice. We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.
Thinking of summer
Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June. In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members. Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two. It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect). Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.
Mgc committee meeting 13 Jan 17
Account and AGM. The accounts are approved and the questions of detail and understanding for the new treasurer will be covered in a conference call with the accountant. The MT shed costs are now final
The ESA grant will need to be processed. Charle Carter kindly does this for the club each year.
At the AGM we will be proposing a change to the quoracy rules to increase the chances of a committee meeting being quorate. Currently it is half the number of members + 1 which is very restrictive.
Running projects
The MT shed is complete except for smoke alarms which need investigating. The financial report will be given to the AGM.
The caravan park and campsite bases and meter are now available awaiting suitable weather for installation
The accommodation block roof quotes are significantly higher than expected and we are still looking at ways to address this.
The access road investigation has taken on new energy since Howard Bradley grasped it and he has evaluated several methods that we can use to repair it. We will be looking at these solutions over the next month.
The AGM will be presented with options for capital expenditure. The club fleet improvement is one of these and Steve Male and Simon are well advanced in creating a proposal. Neal is doing the infrastructure with advice from Dave Crowson and Roger Andrews. Guy Hartland and Simon Adlard are doing the MT proposal.
The BGA safety review last year has led to 3 improvements so far viz. improved incident reporting, introduction of instructors forum and a standardisation programme for instructors I.e ensure we are all saying the same thing about the same subject.
The Vitara’s gas tank is ready to install. Julian has done a fantastic job, he just needs a time slot and some temperature to fit it!
The expansion to the electric fence is being done, this will make it easier to get gliders in and out, especially for bungey.
Operational plan and areas
The get checked week is in place. See the blog for details
The Easter recruitment day does not have a leader, see the blog for details. It cannot run without an owner.
We have 3 new instructors in the pipeline.
Fleet. CJM CCW have completed their ARC. CKR is having the tail wheel modification. Next to do is EVV.
Llanbedr need FLARM so we will use a portable for the expedition.
Grounds 2 of the 3 signs at the south have been installed and the new runway markers are in place