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.
Last week:
Instructor development
Congratulations to Mike Witton who has now become a full cat instructor. This is a significant achievement well done Mike.
Congratulations to Steve Male who has been appointed a regional examiner.
Access road
Howard Bradley is beavering away behind the scenes trying to get a contractor to do a fix we can afford. Its not easy getting contractors, especially reliable ones and Howard’s persistence is absolutely marvellous.
Ground radios
Peter has finished the radios, they even work as far as Bishops Castle. Peter says the most difficult part will be trying to lock them down so they cant be interfered with. Good luck with that.
Club Secretary
I am delighted to announce that John O’Reilly has stepped up to the plate and is our new secretary.
Weekend outlook:
Your team this weekend is : Steve Foster, Denise Hughes, Stephen Alexander, John O’Reilly, Charles Page. With high pressure in charge it should be a nice day.
Forthcoming events:
Christmas flying
The club is closed on the 25th and we will not be operational from the 24th until the 27th.
Calendars
Your last chance to get a calendar before Christmas. They make a stunning present and of course get people interested in gliding and more specifically our club.
Christmas dinner
The dinner was a huge success, once again a packed evening with a wonderful meal, trophies and a great raffle raising £468 for the social fund. Book early for next year is my advice as there were several disappointed members this year. Denise did a fantastic job of decorating, Fay, Rob, Jane and Dave did miracles in the kitchen and Pete and Rob executed the raffle with panache and style as always. Thanks to Jean for the photos.
New Year’s Eve
This is usually a chance to get together at the club on New Years Eve to celebrate the incoming year with good friends. Do let the kitchen or office know if you are coming, as there is usually a mass order for takeaway food on that night.
Winter lectures
We now have 4 booked during February and March. We have Pete Harvey the BGA chair, Hugh Browning the driving force on the safety initiatives, Mike Groves of Skylaunch and the National Trust. We have also had an offer of another interesting talk from a member. 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. Please put the 14th of January into your diary, there is a lot going on in gliding and Pete knows everything!
14 Jan Pete Harvey
Below is the extract from the BGA web site. We are extremely privileged to have Peter as our guest speaker. This is an interesting time for our sport and as well as entertaining us on how to do it he is a fount of knowledge on all things that affect our sport.
PETE HARVEY – CHAIRMAN
Pete flies from Bicester and York and is a British Team member. After success in international hang-gliding, he won the European Open Class Gliding Championship in 2005, 2007 and 2009 – an unprecedented achievement. He has a Nimbus 4 glider and a small share in a Robin 400.
11 Feb National trust
4 March Hugh Browning
11 March Mike Groves
Juniors
We will be hosting the Juniors Winter expedition on the 1st weekend of Feb.
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.
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.
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.
Notes from committee meeting held on the 9th of December
Prices
We will apply a 1% increase to those prices not agreed at the previous meeting. In addition launch fees will go up to £11. There was agreement that the subs should be below £500 and the Shrewsbury school fees should not increase. The increase will be from April 17. We are conscious that although we made a small surplus this last year we are faced with large rises next year in terms of business rates and energy.
AGM
The date will be the 8th of April 2017 at the club 17:00. At this meeting we will be presenting the club strategic direction regarding expenditure:-
Caravan park
The only outstanding item is the electric and water station.
BGA safety review
Steve reported that the 2 strands he is currently working on are :-
Instructor comms, he is implementing Alasdair’s forum.
Instructor standardisation. This will be done via the bi monthly instructor meetings.
Land Rover replacements
The Vitara is now back in service. Julian is still arranging the fitting of the gas tank
Marketing
We have one new member and another in the pipe line. Paypal will be amended to enable better capture of source of enquiry.
Fleet
The K8 and the K13 start ARC this weekend. Handhelds will be fitted as fixed installations.
The Discus has the tailplane problem to be addressed.
MT
- Marc and Guy have started the winter maintenance. Guy recommends that Skylaunch service the retrieve winch. The meeting approved this. Both main winches will be serviced in house.
Grounds
Steven has submitted a report “Airfield and grounds report 1612”. The committee authorised Steven to fit the gate repairs as he sees fit.
The runway markers need re painting and Steven will approach volunteers to help.
Radios
Peter Orchard has almost completed the installation of the new PMR radios. They can receive as far as Bishops Castle.