Your Chairman’s Christmas Message.

Dear members,

As 2023 ends, it’s time to reflect on our past year. All our planned events took place, the Great British weather continued to play havoc, but we got there in the end.

Bickley MFC is probably one of the largest (by numbers) clubs around, and many of our members have been with the club for many years, we are indebted for their continued loyalty. We continue to maintain our membership numbers, but it gets harder each year. What we really need are new and younger members: Anything you can do to encourage younger people to join us will help our sport and hobby and in the long term our club to prosper.

This year we have purchased a new high-performance lawn mower which has significantly improved our ability to maintain the field. We said at the AGM that we intended to really tidy up the field, hedges, and ditches along with the lane. We are pleased to report that this work is now complete, and we hope you will appreciate the improvements.

The sudden death of Bill Wheeler impacted us all and is a tragic loss to all who knew him. I’m glad to report that Bill’s modelling gear has been sold on very successfully.

The new committee was formed at the AGM. We are currently busy sorting through the membership and interviewing prospective new members. Part of this process requires us to check that you are members of the BMFA: If not you must not fly your model until you have renewed your membership. You must also be a registered operator with the CAA and have your operator number on all your aircraft.

We are also planning our events calendar for the new year and will report more on this as it develops, but our first social event will be a club get together on 7^th January. We thought we would cook some bacon and sausage rolls to keep you warm. We will start at 11am if that is not too early.

It only remains for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas, and prosperous and hopefully peaceful new year.

Regards,

Bob Ryan

Chairman, Bickley MFC