President’s Message – March 15

Greetings BRCM fliers.

The end of the long cold winter is in view, as temperature occasionally breaks into the teens. I was at the field a few days ago and some folks were flying. It almost felt like May.

And as of next week, we will resume more or less normal activities for the first time in over two years.

On Tuesday, March 22, we will have our first general meeting, at St. Mathew church, 126 Plains Road W. at 7:30. As well as a brief business meeting, Doug Matthews will do a presentation on field safety, He will review existing rules, as well as the new MAAC reporting rules, and address any questions you may have. WE WILL ALSO HAVE A SHOW AND TELL. PLEASE BRING YOUR WINTER PROJECTS TO SHOW OFF.

(Nicholas Jacobs was supposed to speak, but he has been under the weather with Covid for a couple of weeks.)

Looking ahead, we will have general meetings at St. Matthew monthly: April 19 and May 22.

Looking ahead to summer, our first summer event will be Maidenfest on the May 19 weekend, where we will have some expert fliers on hand to help you tune up and maiden your new creations.

I am also pleased to report that the weather station is now up and running after a long silence, thanks to the efforts of Dwayne Baldwin and Bill Ayre. And if you have not noticed, the spring 2022 edition of Skywords is accessible from the Webpage, Thanks to Joe Fazzari for the literary contributions.

If you’re contemplating how to spend the lazy hazy days of summer, one possibility is to assist Ken Sisler and Ross Gosling. They can be reached at bayview@brcm.org

That’s all for now

Geoff

p.s. In future, I plan to put any messages on the web page so keep your eyes peeled.

President’s Message – March 3

Dear BRCM fliers.

We had our Board meeting recently, and I am delighted to bring you several items of good news.

  1. Survey

We had a total of 52 responses. Sixty percent wanted to resume winter meetings; 40% declined. We got great information about what folks want to hear about. High on the list, a) mysteries of electricity – batteries, motors, props, b) Understanding your transmitter. Accordingly we will start off with s session with Nicholas Jacobs about electricity. All other categories (sadly except for controline flying) were of interest to a majority of respondents. We’ll use that to plan future meetings, (although we may have some surprises along the way.) Ian Brown is in charge of programming, so if you have any ideas let him know (see website for his and others’ emai)

  • Membership

At last count we have 86 signed up members. If that does not include you, you can download a renewal form from the website (brcm.org). Please note that we are not charging a late fee this year, so fee is $120. If you overpaid that will be credited to your account for next year. Please submit to Steve Waterfall, memberships@brcm.org. We will have applications available at the next general meeting end of March.

  • Winter meetings

Based on the survey results, we have decided to have 3 meetings this winter.   The Library is still not open, so we have found an alternative site. St. Matthews Church, 126 Plains Road E., Burlington.  Right across the street from Skycraft. We have a large room with tables and chairs

We had to pick a different night from before. So meetings will be held on 3rd Tuesday of the month, 730-900. Dates for this year are: March 22, April 19, May 24. In March, Nicholas Jacobs will be talking about the mysteries of electricity applied to e-flying. How do you pick a motor. Care and charging of batteries. Matching motor to prop.

Topics for April and May are being finalized and will be announced later

We must, of course go along with provincial guidelines, which means that a) Vaccination status does not matter, b)  Social distancing is enforced, c) Masks are encouraged but optional and d) we have to create a contact list at each meeting, which will be destroyed after a few weeks. 

  • Skywords

Thanks to Joe Fazzari, a new issue of Skywords has arrived. Access it through the BRCM webpage (brcm.org).

  • The field

We are fixing up the weather station and windsock in preparation for another year of flying. A team consisting of Dwayne Baldwin, Bill Ayre and Pete Krautter has been getting things back up to snuff. We have a new Wifi provider – Skychoice — and the weather station is up and running. We’ll also have CCTV going soon. And repairs to the flagpole and a new windsock. We will also have keyfob access to the clubhouse. Stay tuned.

Ken Sisler and Ross Gosling are getting the lawn mowers tuned up. They are looking for helpers doing trimming around the benches, stands, etc. So, come spring,  if you have the time, get in touch with Ken on website. Once a month for a couple of hours

  • Summer plans

Now that life is sort of back to normal, we’ve been thinking ahead to summer events. We have 4 events planned. We’re getting into detailed planning for the first one; the rest are still preliminary.

Maidenfest      May 14

              Bring your new planes out, and we’ll have some experts on hand to help with preflight, trim and buddy system. And if you’re an expert (You know who you are) please get In touch with Ian Brown (see webpage) if you can help out.

Father’s Day Fun Fly    June 19

EDF Day             July 17

Corn Roast       Aug 27

Events are always scheduled for Saturday. If weather sucks, Sunday is an alternate.

That’s about all for now. Counting the days !

Geoff

President’s Message – Feb 1

Happy New Year to all.

On January 13, Mike Block e-mailed all 2021 and 2022 members regarding the Annual General Meeting, which would normally be held on the last Thursday of January. Because of COVID, no meeting was possible, so Michael indicated to members that if they were interested in running for the Board, they should notify him and, if necessary, an election would be held electronically.

As it turns out, we received nominations for all positions on the Board, but no position was contested, so an election was not needed. The new slate of officers is:

Executive
PresidentGeoff Normanpresident.brcm@gmail.com
Vice PresidentBill Ayrevicepresident.brcm@gmail.com
SecretaryDwayne Baldwinsecretary.brcm@gmail.com
TreasurerVictor Wellstreasurer.brcm@gmail.com

Directors
Director at LargeAlex Hutchinsondirector1.brcm@gmail.com
Director at LargeEric Klepschdirector2.brcm@gmail.com
Field ManagerKen Sislerfield.brcm@gmail.com
MembershipsSteve Waterfallmemberships@brcm.org
Past PresidentMike Blockpastpresident.brcm@gmail.com
ProgramIan Browsnprogram.brcm@gmail.com
Web SiteNicholas Jacobswebsite.brcm@gmail.com
WingsDon Irvinewings.brcm@gmail.com

A second issue that would normally be addressed at the AGM is approval of the 2022 budget. This was presented to the Board at the January meeting. There are no unusual capital expenses, and it is virtually identical to the 2021 budget with the exception that costs associated with the runway improvement are deleted. If anyone wants more details, feel free to contact me or another Board member.

The new Board held its first meeting on Feb 1. Minutes of the meeting are attached to this email. They will also be posted on the website.

Winter meetings

All indications are that the current wave driven by the Omicron variant is now on the wane. New cases in Ontario are less than 20% of the 4th wave peak (2600 on Feb 1 vs. 18000 on Jan 1). It appears likely that the government will be able to stay with the planned 3 stage reduction in precautions, which means that by March 14, indoor social gatherings with up to 50 people (with masks and social distancing) will be permitted.

It therefore will be possible to restart a winter program, with a meeting on the 4th week of March. However, it remains to be seen if there is sufficient interest among club members to justify the planning of indoor events.

Discussion with the Burlington Library did not arrive at any conclusion regarding availability of a meeting room. Accordingly we have identified another venue, the parish hall of St. Matthews Church, 126 Plains Road E., directly across Plains Road from Skycraft. The room will hold 100 people so is sufficient to permit social distancing. Once we are more certain of the winter schedule (if there is one), we will firm up rental.

To gauge interest, we will be sending out an electronic survey by mid-February, assessing whether you would attend a winter meeting and assessing interest in various proposed topics. Please complete it promptly. We will compile results and then let the club know whether we will proceed with a winter program for March—May.

Summer Events
Looking ahead to summer, we are hoping to hold several events – a spring “Maidenfest” to check out new planes, summer Fun Fly, and September Corn Roast and wrapup. We will keep you informed.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not express to Mike a sincere vote of thanks on behalf of all the members for his guidance and leadership over some very difficult years. Thanks so much!

Geoff Norman