Summer 2007

Dear Members

The summer months got off to a good start and we had some excellent weather which made the two club events held over the summer most enjoyable.

The Fly For Fun Day was held on Sunday 13th May and attracted the biggest turn out of club members to date. The fun fly challenges were made shorter and were easier to fly and judge than before. The entertainment factor was still high as we still flew the limbo to finish off the event. All types of models took to the air but the most common was electric, so the old gallon of fuel for the winner now seems inappropriate. We have now introduced a couple of trophies for the two fun fly events of the year.

Fun fly results over four challenges (lowest score wins):

1st Leigh Dakin (12 points)
2nd Brian Daykin (14 points)
3rd Gordon Whitehead (15 points)

Incidentally, Leigh made seventeen limbos in two minutes which was an excellent display of slow and controlled flying. Well done Leigh, keep up the good flying!

The first of the two Castle Howard events took place over the weekend of 19/20th May. The 19th was blown out but fortunately the members representing DDMFC chose the Sunday to fly. Once again the day was a great success. No winds and hot weather made Mark Parsonage’s début to show flying a very enjoyable day. Andrew and Paul stayed on until late Sunday taking advantage of the perfect weather and the huge flying field. The Wilga was flying well and Gordon’s fleet of aircraft were given one last airing before Longhorsley.

The club took part in two more events before our annual barbeque. The first was Longhorsley and then the Teesside Model Air show. Unfortunately Longhorsley suffered once again with some poor weather and the only successful day was on the Saturday. In contrast, Teesside had an excellent weekend with many hours of blue sky.

Meanwhile back at the patch, our midweek flyers have been enjoying some warm and sunny days …… and then the heavens open when I roll up at the weekend! It was on one of these wet Sundays that we noticed water pouring into the club house. Luckily your committee was on hand during the week to make some urgent repairs to the roof. Wall panels were replaced, painted and a new bill of health awarded to the club house.

The patch is also looking good apart from all the sheep droppings. I thought it wouldn’t be a great problem at first but if we let it pile up there will not be much room left for the models! I know some members have a little muck clearing session so all I would ask is for more members to help out. Gloves and plastic bags can be found in the club house.

The annual club barbeque took place on Saturday 9th June. This is always a weather dependant event and we struggled to get members to purchase tickets in advance. Most people did add names to the club house list but if I went on that list alone we would have been thirty meals short! Most people just wanted to pay on the day.
On the day the weather turned out to be excellent and fortunately we had already decided to provide sufficient catering for sixty people so nobody went hungry. I have already sent letters of thanks to all those who made the day a great success and also to the members who helped set up on Saturday morning. Thanks again to all concerned.

A memorable part of the day was the banner towing by Gordon Whitehead and the flying display by Richard Ingelson. Gordon’s banner attracted Tyne Tees television and the Northern Echo. All was revealed when a plane towing a marriage proposal to an unsuspecting member’s girlfriend appeared over the flying site. How could she refuse?!!

Membership of the club is looking very healthy with membership enquiries coming in all the time. It is great to see lots of new faces at the club. The club website which has been a great asset to club recruitment is undergoing a face lift. The first priority will be making it more user friendly for members who only have a dial up connection. I will still forward any club information via the club e-mail list which is sent using ‘Bcc’ so no other member can see your e-mail address. If you would like to be included on the list, just let me know.

Finally, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to those of you who have recently joined the club. I am sure you will spend many happy hours enjoying your hobby with DDMFC.

Events diary:

In this issue I will be asking you to submit committee member nominations and proposals for the AGM by the end of November. Please start thinking about your nominations now. If you have any news items that you would like to be included in the next newsletter, please send them to me in electronic format (Club Chairman).

Old Timers Quiz by Gordon Whitehead

Add the answers together to make a total of £32.17s 8 1/2d. Good luck!

1. A stone	7. A part of a Monkey’s leg
2. A bicycle	8. Sun, moon and Pluto
3. A mans name	9. Royal headdress
4. A singer	10. 50% of panties
5. A kind of pig	11. Hit repeatedly
6. A leather worker	12. An unwell sea creature

Please send your answers to Gordon (who tells me the answer to number 12 is 6 quid!), or alternatively email them to Club Secretary.

Safe flying.

Neil Dixon
Chairman 2007