Hi everybody
The first of August, traditionally thought of as the height of summer, everybody on holiday so less work to do and an opportunity to do more flying. The nights are inevitably going to get longer now so take advantage of what are still long days to do as much gliding as you can. Lots of activity around the club not only keeps the treasurer happy but keeps the atmosphere lively and makes it more attractive to members and visitors alike. A lively and busy club is more likely to attract new members and new members is what this club needs to secure its future. From those new members come volunteers. What makes any club successful is the handful of volunteers that that run it. I say a handful but when you count up who does what, it is clear to see that it takes a great many people to keep the club functioning. The committee does an incredible amount of work behind the scenes, often unoticed, dealing with the everyday administration of a business, a club and what amounts to a charitable non-profit organisation. Others help to maintain the assets, such as the fleet, the trailers, the buildings and the grounds, while yet more help out with promtions, advertising, press relations etc etc. As our membership has declined over the last twenty years, in common with most other gliding clubs worldwide (there were 9500 glider pilots in the UK in 2000 and about 7500 now) then the proportion of the total club membership that is needed to volunteer to keep it running has increased. For the large part I see the same people doing the same necessary work around the place as I saw back then and this is unsustainable as we all get older. The club needs skills such as engineers, graphic designers, photographers, marketeers, financial advisors, lawyers and solicitors, people with experience of gaining grants and writing reports as well as launch directors and instructors. I’m pleased to say that our instructor cadre is increasing thanks to the sterling efforts of the CFI and his deputies but we still need more and lots of help from others. So if you have a useful skill, or just time, especially if you are under forty, talk to one of the committee members and find out what you can do to keep this club healthy and growing. But it is apreciated if the flying field can be regarded as a committee free zone. We are all members because we want to fly after all. Some of the things that make a huge difference are: cleaning the gliders before they are put away at night, clearing the site of rubbish and dead machinery (thanks Julian for your work on this), keeping the club trailers clean and in legal working order, maintaining the buildings, decorating. I could go on at length but I guess you have the idea.
Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday: Mike Witton (No 1), Matthew Cook (No 2, Peter Orchard (winch)
Sunday: Simon Adlard (No 1), Matthew Cook (No 2), Charles Carter (TLs), Liz Adlard (LD)
Rockpolishers
A successful last weekend at Aston Down with three first places and a second over the two days. Well done team.
Instructor Meeting
The next instructor meeting is at the club at 1700 hours on the 10th August.
Photographs
We depend for our promotional material largely on photos from members and I have a significant archive but they are getting to the end of their useful life having been used many times. If you have any images that you think might be useful for advertising or posters or on the website and you are happy to sign over the copyright to the club and agree to their unrestricted use for club purposes please send copies to me at this email address in as high a resolution as you can muster. Any file format will do.
BGA Club Management Conference
A reminder that the this will take place at the deVere Staverton in Northamptonshire on Sunday 17th November. It is intended for those that take part in the management of the club so Chairs and Vice Chairs, Treasurers, CFIs and Club Technical Officers as well as those interested in the promotion of Junior Flying.
And finally ….
Does anyone have a PowerFlarm unit that I could borrow for a few days? My one is playing up and I am trying to fault find. The last thing to check is the Flarm unit itself. Any help much appreciated.
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman
MGC