MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

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:

BGA conference

There were several key messages coming out of the above.  To take a couple of highlights the inspectors emphasised the care that we must take with the K21 wing roots when rigging and de rigging.  The fibreglass is a special weave so if it gets damaged in any way, eg scratched it will mean a replacement wing!   I was very encouraged that the BGA have set up a Business Rates team to help clubs like us faced with astronomical rises.  The team gave a presentation and Martin and I breathed a sigh of relief that such quality support is available.

MT shed electrics

We have been waiting for the electrics to be signed off so we can move forward and get the building completion certificate.  Matthew Cook has been voluntarily working on this, during his busiest work period as well and has now delivered the certificate.  We all owe a huge debt to Matthew for his efforts on this.

Club Electrics

Steve Rudge has been helping us with the work required to enable insurance compliance.  His input and knowledge has been invaluable.

Vitara

The Vitara has new livery and a flashing light on the top!   The next step is to finish the gas installation which Julian has ready and install a ground radio.  Everything is ready, we just need a bit of warmer weather.

Club Treasurer

We have had a couple of generous offers from members who are willing to help with the figures but not be Treasurer.  Ideally the club needs a Treasurer,  it is nowhere near as onerous as in the old days.  The requirements are:-  be able to read the outputs from Sage that Martin produces, be able to operate a web browser so you can authorise payments on line, attend as many committee meetings as you can.  Each monthly meeting only takes 1.5 hours and gives you the opportunity to help steer your club.  This committee is extremely effective yet the meetings are not onerous at all.  You definitely don’t need to be an accountant!!  Please give it some thought and let me know.

Weekend outlook:

Women in gliding will be joining us. Your team will be Mike Rogers, Peter Orchard, Simon Adlard, Nigel Lassetter, Ed Jones and Liz Adlard.

Looks like light winds and a high pressure, so winter woollies and a crisp day.

Forthcoming events:

Calendars

The club calendars are ready so please order now from the office.  They make a stunning present and of course get people interested in gliding and more specifically our club.

Christmas dinner

The list for this is now closed and as usual it will be a fabulous event.  We have had a very generous offer from Dawn Hartland to produce some Yule Rings to brighten your front door this Christmas with the profits going to the club. This is a very generous offer and I would hope that we will all support her, I have already placed my order.  On the 10th December for the Christmas celebrations Dawn will bring a stock of various colours but if you have a specific preference in colours please drop her an e mail at :-dogdawn@hotmail.co.uk with your request.

We will also have our fund raising so all contributions of Christmas Raffle prizes are appreciated. Please help and contribute as these go to delivering items like the wonderful firework display we had this year and the marvellous decorations that Denise kindly organises on our behalf. Thanks Den for all your hard work, if any members would like to help support with the social side please let me know.

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 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.

14 Jan Pete Harvey

11 Feb National trust

4  March Hugh Browning

11 March Mike Groves

Ready for cross country?

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.

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24^th 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.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

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:

You will have seen a couple of blog posts about what’s been happening flying wise this week. A group also travelled to the BGA Club Management conference last weekend & have come back with lots of great ideas. If you’ve got an idea to develop the club, please do speak to Neal or a committee member.

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is Steve Foster, Walter Baumann, Rod Hawley, Guy Hartland, and Steve Alexander. We are short of a Launch Director on both days, so if you can spare an hour or two to help run the field I’m sure the instructors will reward you well.

The weather on Saturday looks good – mainly dry with sunny spells but rather cold with overnight frost. Unsettled on Sunday with a couple of spells of heavy rain to dodge – there will be strong winds likely at times, however this is not a problem for us, since the wind should be pretty much on the ridge! Don’t forget that if you are in training, then ground school is always offered if there is no flying – this way you always get to learn something valuable to progress your gliding.

It’s also Steve Pozerskis’ birthday party this weekend at the club, so there should be plenty going on during the weekend, with lots of friendly faces.

Forthcoming events:

Christmas dinner – Dec 10th

Always a great evening, so if you want to reserve the last couple of spaces, contact the kitchen without delay.  We will be running a fund raising event, the social fund is now at the point where we can invest in something substantial to improve our social facilities.  So far the suggestion are:- re furbish the bar or refurbish the patio furniture.  If you have any other ideas then please let me know via the email below and in the meantime we will work up these proposals.

We will either have an auction or a raffle (or a mixture of both!) at the dinner so please can you let me know if you are willing to donate a prize of some sort.  Anything will be appreciated.

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 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.  The dates for your diary are 14th Jan, 11th Feb, 4th & 11th March & they usually start around 6pm/6:30pm. 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.

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24^th 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.

In addition, we are planning a similar (shorter!) day on 15th April. We are looking for a volunteer to lead this, and you will be ably assisted by Chris Harris who, along with Nigel Lassiter, did a fantastic job of running this last year. Again, drop Neal an email if you can help in any small way!

Here’s what happened at the MGC Committee on 11 November 2016

Insurances

Thanks to Steve Rudge liaising with the electrical contractors we will be in a position to renew.  We are reviewing the cost of increasing the liability on the airfield.

MT Shed

Mathew Cooke will be finishing the electrical work on Monday and then issuing the certificate.  The  next step will be the final completion certificate.

Caravan park and campsite

We have 20 spaces and we may have 1 spare space.  The final utility station is still to be installed.

Accommodation block roof

Dave Crowson has been “…ered” about by several contractors but has not given up and we are awaiting 2 more quotes.

Access road to the clubhouse

Howard Bradley is having difficulty in finalising the quotations but he hasn’t given up either.

Staff pension scheme

The scheme is established. The next step is the letters to the staff.

BGA safety review

The next significant improvement is in instructor communications.  We are looking for a group system to allow communication.  Ideas are being sought at the BGA conference.

Landrover replacements

The Vitara is now fully striped up.  The gas conversion is ready to be installed.  See below for information on radios. We are sorting out a fixed radio installation, which shouldnt take long, then this vehicle will be available to use for airfield operations.

Radios

The meeting received a proposal from Peter Orchard regarding replacing the club ground radio equipment.  This proposal was accepted and Peter is now working up the implementation plan.

Finance

Neal and Martin have scheduled a meeting with the accountants for the 21^st of November at the club.  We are still actively seeking a treasurer.  Neal and Martin are constructing a cashflow as well.  The last budget that Tony Gould prepared showed a relatively static picture regarding the profit and loss for next year.  The business rate rise of 300% is causing concern and Neal has established a contact with the Valuation Office VOA and has received the detail of the 2017 valuation. The VOA have been asked for the 2010 valuation and the BGA conference should also supply more information on what can be done.

Marketing and membership

Sarah reported on the advertising progress which is superb. We had 9 more full flying members at Sept 2016 than we did at Sept 2015.  The MGC 2017 calendars are ready for sale now – contact the office or see Facebook page for info – they are £10 each & make a great Xmas present.  We have prepared an email list for Christmas advertising, which will be sent out this week.  We are re-joining Shropshire tourism and the new course brochures are available, courtesy of Jon Hall for the artwork.

CFI report

Steve Male reported on the flying in October.  The incident reporting has improved,  please keep this up it is vital to our safety.  The next instructor meeting is on the 3^rd of December and Ged Terry will be in attendance.  We have 2 instructors going forward for the full cat test in December and we have 2 potential BI s coming forward.  There are some BGA seminars coming up, see below, if you wish to attend please contact the BGA office

1. a) Club Safety Officers Seminar – Lasham 21^st January 2017, Pocklington 4^th February 2017,Husbands Bosworth 11^th February 2017
2. b) Flight Instructor Coach Seminar – Dunstable Sunday 5^th February 2017
3. c) Flight Instructor (S) Seminar – York Gliding Club January 2017.

Fleet

We will be fitting Icom radios in the rear of the two seaters. The ARCs will start upon Roger’s return.

Launching and MT

Marc Williams has produced the maintenance schedule.  Guy will go through it with him to decide on the most effective way forward. If you happen to have any spare old tyres lying around at home, we are getting short, so we’d be happy to take them off your hands.

Grounds

We have had an application from the Midland Automobile Club to traverse our land as in previous years.  We will be specifying the paths that they may use.

We are going to repair the gate at the bottom of the Asterton gully and the signs for the new cycle ways are being created ready for installation

IT

The new email service is up and running. Martin and Neal are hoping to get more input regarding flight logging at the BGA conference on the 12th.

Hospitality

The public liability insurance for the kitchen has been renewed and will be put onto the office computer.

Social fund

The main contender for the fund appears to be a bar refurbishment. Paul Waller will elaborate on the options and the means of achieving them via the social fund. Let us know if you have any other ideas.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Well done and many congratulations to John Neal, who made his first solo flights today! (And thanks for the early beers afterwards!).

Well done!

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:

Roland Bailey

The funeral will be held on the 24th November at 14:00 Barham crematorium on the A2 between Canterbury and Dover then after at the Jack.    Howard Piper is arranging everything so if you wish to attend it is important, please, to contact the office so that he can know the likely numbers.

Emails

For more years than I care to remember Paul Shuttleworth has hosted our emails and given us a really fantastic service.  Now we are even more dependant on the digital world we are moving to consolidate everything onto a commercial service.  You will notice that emails from the office come from office@midlandgliding.club and I would be grateful if you could amend your contacts to reflect this.  More will be transferred over in the winter.

Sheep plan

We have called a halt to the experiment regarding the electric fence in the front of the hangar.  It has been judged by all the members to be a success and Howard is drawing up plans to extend it.  The extension will allow access for bungey launching and give a greater sheep free area for Daily Inspections.  There have been several requests for an even more ambitious expansion.  Howard is looking at this as well but we are mindful of costs so will wait until we have a very clear understanding before going ahead with such a significant expansion.

Bonfire night  November the 5th

Unfortunately my photographic skills weren’t up to the job of capturing the wonderful show that was the Mynd Bonfire night.  The route to the bonfire was beautifully lit all the way down to the mulled wine stall, then to the huge bonfire (still burning the next day).  The fireworks were tremendous and Dave Crowson remembered to let go of the rockets on launch.   This was all followed by a superb supper.  What a brilliant night.  We all owe a great deal of thanks to Denise Hughes and Rob and Jean Shepherd for organising such a fabulous night and the kitchen staff for laying on such a great supper.

Vitara

The Vitara has new livery and a flashing light on the top!   Thanks to Rob Shepherd and Peter Turner for installing this.  The next step is to finish the gas installation which Julian has ready and install a ground radio.  More on the latter after the committee meeting.

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is Chris Alldis, Charles Carter, David Brown, Mark Sanders, Denise Hughes and Dave D’arcy.  The weather looks tricky for Saturday morning but then getting steadily better.  Don’t forget if you are in training then ground school will be offered if there is no flying.

Forthcoming events:

Christmas dinner

Please don’t forget to put December the 10th into your diary for this wonderful evening.  The kitchen is taking reservations now and the list is filling up.  Please call and make your reservation as soon as possible.  We will be running a fund raising event, the social fund is now at the point where we can invest in something substantial to improve our social facilities.  So far the suggestion are:- re furbish the bar or refurbish the patio furniture.  If you have any other ideas then please let me know via the email below and in the meantime we will work up these proposals.

We will either have an auction or a raffle (or a mixture of both!) at the dinner so please can you let me know if you are willing to donate a prize of some sort.  Anything will be appreciated.

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.  I will start publicizing the dates from the  next blog.  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.

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24^th 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.

chairman@midlandgliding.club