Well we have passed the ‘mid summer’ point lets hope the second half brings some long spells of settled weather, the last few years September early October have tended to pretty nice and pretty warm.
Sad News
A couple of weeks ago we found out that Brian Holdsworth had sadly passed away. A few people had commented on the fact that he had been missing on flying days and those who knew Brian appreciated you could set your clock with Brian’s arrival time at the field, 12:50 on the dot. Brian flew during the week so I guess many members would not of met him.
I had tried several phone calls and emails to Brian to ask about his well being after this failed Jason drove to his house to check on him. Upon arriving at Brian’s house Jason was met by a neighbour who relayed the sad news that Brian had been found dead in the house after the Police conducted a forced entry, he had suffered a heart attack. Brian lived on his own so had been dead for a few days. It is always sad when a person dies alone like that.
Over the years I did get to know Brian a bit, he was a very clever software writer for control systems on both aircraft and maritime craft. Brian started work at GEC Marconi (Rochester) and did coding for several military projects. He did mention to me once that he had worked on some civil aircraft upgrades, I think this was avionic upgrades.
When BAE systems bought GEC Marconi Brian moved to Warton where he continued working on many projects.
Brian’s knowledge of electronics was immense and he was a wizz on old valve technology, useful to those of us who have valve guitar amps.
Brian had a very in depth knowledge of aerodynamics and provided you could withstand the one hour answer he always helped people.
He did once tell me that he had been involved with F3A gliders both bungee launch and later motor launch.
RIP Brian
Club Hut
A reminder from the committee that if you use the brewing up facilities in the hut could you please take the cup home and wash it and don’t leave tea bags and dirty plastic spoons on the table please.
Special Committee Item
I have been approached by the committee to include the following item. Dave Hindley (club secretary) sent me the email which I have inserted below.
An opportunity to help, can you help?
We are looking for a volunteer to work with the committee in a role to oversee the club Equality, Diversity and Inclusion process and general Safeguarding; the role is Welfare Officer. This role is primarily helping to keep the club operating within the relevant guidance recently issued by the BMFA. This is open to any club member and is not a committee role, but will link with the club secretary.
The BMFA guidance provides a framework to satisfy Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and safeguarding within the club. The committee discussed this development and in order to put things in place, the required club E,D & I documentation (section 12 within the club rules), and the Club Safeguarding Policy have been developed, the Club Secretary will act as Welfare Officer to look after the introduction and development for the first year, beyond this we are looking for another person to help.
Our Commitment
Blackpool and Fylde Radio Control Model Society values a diverse membership and the contribution each individual makes. We are committed to promoting inclusivity, equality and diversity in model flying and our policies and procedures. We also recognise the need to identify where and why inequality exists and how we can play our part in addressing it. Increasing diversity demonstrates that we are a Society capable of developing to meet the requirements of a changing world.
So, if you are interested let’s have a chat.
Dave Hindley
Flying Field News
Since the last newsletter we have a couple of splendid events at the field.
Firstly the BMFA held a round of their scale competition at our field. Whilst the weather was not sunny the wind was not to bad for flying.
The turn out was not brilliant although some competitors have travelled a good distance for the event.
To increase the number of competitors the organizer convinced some of our club members who had turned up with models to enter the competition.
The unfortunate victims were Jason, Jake and Dave (Hindley)
You have to pick a certain amount of manoeuvrers of a schedule laid out by the BMFA, these are manoeuvrers that the majority of B standard flyers will regularly do during a normal flight.
Now this sounds straight forward but you have to do this flight in front of two judges with a caller to call the schedule out. Jason, Jake and Dave found this difficult to do at times, not helped by the caller missing a manoeuvrer
oops sorry Jason !!! (yes it was me)
Anyhow a great day was had by all with the results as below
The second event was the club fly-in which was a good event despite the weather not been brilliant (again). Its a while since I have seen the car park as busy.
We had some flyers from other clubs which was welcomed and we had some potential new members who got to have a trial flight, hopefully they will return and follow up there interest.
Jason once again kept everybody fed from the BBQ and I have not heard of any case of food poisoning so he can do it again next time.
These kind of events are reliant on support from our own club and any other clubs that choose to visit.
I would urge all Blackpool club members to support these events.
Achievement Scheme
Something to report, Dave Hindley passed his BMFA B certificate recently.
Dave had put in a lot of practice in over the weeks. Kevin Watson was the examiner. Well done Dave.
Justin Goldstone surely must be the next ??? he has been practising since before COVID !!!
Trainers/Trainees
The list of club trainers has been refreshed and their names are below.
If you are a trainee please bear in mind the vast majority of these people work during the day so if you turn up at the field on a Thursday morning for example please don’t get annoyed that there are no trainers there.
A couple of the trainers are of an age where work does not get in the way and if contacted may be able to accommodate mid week sessions.
As a trainee get to know these trainers if needed ask for their phone numbers or use the Clubs messenger group to make contact with them.
Don’t rely on the same trainer all the time, all the trainers will offer the same amount of training and to the same standard/goal.
Trainers :
Chris Vernon, Jason Reid, Jake Reid, Mark Conlin, Andy Harrison, Anthony Ollerton, Dave Hindley, Kev Watson
Regards Chris V