The club members did me the honour of electing me Chairman at the AGM on January 20. I have held many positions in the club over the last ten years but never the Top Job.
There are many issues that need attention but I am going to focus on two and put all my energies into sorting them out;
(1) The repair of the shed, resurfacing of the driveway, erection of safety barrier and maintenance of the fence at the DeBeers end of the runway. We will be organising workdays (usually on a Saturday) where club members will be asked to help carry out the work. Details will be published on the club website.
(2) The club will actively encourage as many members as possible to obtain their ‘A’ Certs. Some members may not be aware of Flying Rule 18 which prohibits unsupervised flying by members who do not hold ‘A’ or ‘B’ Certs. The Committee proposes to temporarily suspend this rule until the Autumn to give members a chance to get their ‘A’ Certs. See website for details of ‘A’ and ‘B’ scheme.
Communications with members is always a difficult problem. Nowadays, virtually everybody has access to the Internet. Up-to-date versions of the Constitution, Flying Rules, Contest Calendar and club news/information/notices will be published on the club website (www.smfc.org).
New members will not be aware that the Club operates a video lending library. Members can borrow videos, which cover a wide range of model flying topics, on payment of a refundable deposit. Many members have video tapes which are languishing on their shelves, having being viewed a number of times. Why not donate them to the library so that other members can enjoy them. To get the ball rolling, I am donating three videos.
We are also purchasing the video set ‘Splat 1 – 3’ which feature models crashing and are great fun to watch. A club social night is being organised to premiere them. This will take place on 10th March at 8.00pm at Shannon Golf Club. A very enjoyable night is promised and I hope a large number of members will attend.
Best wishes for 2003 and many hours of flying fun.
Dermot O’Flynn
