BMPA Newsletters
Newsletters > January 2004
Welcome
Welcome to the first BMPA Newsletter of 2004. May we wish you a Happy New Year. We [the executive committee] hope that this year you will be able to come along to some of the BMPA events we have planned and will take the opportunity to renew old friendships and / or make new ones.Our first meeting is the clinical meeting at the end of February in London. The excellent programme, compiled by Jeremy Radcliffe and his team, looks at age related problems in the aviation environment. The full programme is enclosed. Please look at it to-day as there are some changes to our usual booking system, namely that you book your accommodation directly with the hotel, and the preferential rates some have agreed for members are only available for a short period. Also there is a reduction for early booking for the clinical meeting if you book before the 13th Feb.
We hope this new system of booking will allow more flexibility as there is a price range of hotels which Jeremy has highlighted. Also, if you find at the last minute that you can come after all, it is still possible. The only area where numbers are limited is the dinner on Saturday night, which, as many of you are aware from previous events, is well worth attending. So book early to avoid disappointment.
A reminder of the dates of events planned for later in the year is at the end of this newsletter.
As you can see the format of the newsletter has changed and we hope to have more people contributing to it. If you have any interesting flying adventures, be they places flown, epic flights, things experience has taught you, etc, which you feel would interest other members please do send them to the secretary. We hope to be able to include colour photographs to illustrate articles where appropriate. Please contribute and make this newsletter an interesting read for everyone. We have persuaded Andrew Sayers to start us of with his visit to Kitty Hawk.
Treasurer's Tales
Firstly, I offer my grateful thanks to my predecessor, Gordon Taylor, for handing over the books to me in September in such good order. It has taken me some time to go through everything and to work out the current situation and its historical background. As most of you will know, Gordon has looked after the Association's finances for a number of years, a job he has done with great skill.Thanks to Gordon and the other officers, the BMPA had accumulated sufficient resources to allow some of our meetings to be subsidised from our healthy reserves and we have had some extremely enjoyable meetings as a result. Those of you who were able to attend the Brighton meeting, so expertly organised by Sheila Davidson, will testify to this. This policy of subsidising meetings has been so successful that that our reserves, although adequate, are no longer embarrassingly large.
Unfortunately, this means that the officers of the Association have had to come to the decision that, at least for the time being, meetings will have to be self-financing. Those who have been enjoying liqueurs after BMPA Dinners, courtesy of the Association, will be disappointed! Sorry about that!
There have been two other factors that have reinforced this decision. One is that our previous Secretary, Andrew Clymo, has been persuaded to submit his expenses claim for the last few years. As the accounts for previous years have been agreed by earlier AGMs and presumably closed, I feel that I ought to seek the approval of the next AGM before making the relevant payments. I hasten to add that the expenses are fully justified, but I believe this formality to be necessary.
The other factor is that four years ago, the Association moved its account from one branch of NatWest Bank to another. This made no significant difference as member's standing orders still found their way into our account - until 2003. Then, many of you received messages to say that our account had been closed and the payment was not made. When this was discovered, those members affected received a letter of apology from NatWest to say that this was due to 'an unannounced change in [their] accounting system' and was 'not of the Association's making'. Unfortunately, we lost a large number of subscriptions and involved Andrew Clymo in a lot of extra work to send out several reminders to many members in order to persuade them to complete new standing orders. This has involved the BMPA in considerable expense, the loss of a number of 2003 subscriptions and the loss of some members. One of my first tasks has been to open a dialogue with the bank to achieve some recompense for their error. My first attempts were not successful but I am pleased to say that that I think we have now achieved a satisfactory compromise.
Finally, a few members pay their subscriptions by standing order from accounts that do not bear their name. This means that I have no means of identifying those members and they may receive reminders to complete new standing orders when they already have them in force. I apologise for that. I think I have now worked out who most of you are but perhaps those members operating as 'AVM Healthcare Ltd' and 'Empingham Medical Centre' could identify themselves?
David Hillam
Secretarial Jottings
I have taken over as secretary of the BMPA with a degree of fear and trepidation. It will be a challenge. I am very aware I have a lot to learn about the association and hope you will bear with me as I find my feet.Andrew Clymo, has done an excellent job as a very efficient secretary of the association for many years and has a wealth of knowledge which he has been kind enough to share with me. He has devoted a lot of time and effort to the association, not least in the last year, with the extra work involved in resolving our problems with the standing orders which David has already detailed. I would like to thank him for continuing this by sending out a last letter regarding the standing orders after the AGM, before handing over to me, hence decreasing my initial work load. His help with this was much appreciated.
I am pleased to say we now have an updated membership list, which David and I have worked on and hopefully you will hear no more about standing orders for some time. If you do change your address I would be grateful if you could let me know your new contact details to keep the list up to date and so you do not miss out on vital information from the BMPA. If there are any errors in the spelling of your name or address please do let me know so I can rectify them.
It is several years since David Reader first persuaded me to join the BMPA and since that time I feel I have gained a lot from it, visiting interesting places, meeting interesting people and it has advanced my knowledge of aviation. But the most striking gain has been in fun I have had and the friends I have made from throughout the United Kingdom. Therefore, although more than a little daunted by the task of being secretary, I am pleased to have the opportunity to give something back to the Association.
I look forward to all we have planned for 2004, and hope you will enjoy the various events.
Norena McAdam
BMPA Events
Some members have kindly shared their thoughts about events at recent meetings.2003 Summer Meeting - Music in the Air
Music in the Air - Gordon Williams2003 Autumn Meeting - Brighton
Saturday 30th AugustEast Trip - Liz Segal
West Trip - Ian Martin
Sunday 31st AugustThe BMPA were privileged to be allowed the apron in front of the Transair hangar as ringside seats for the Shoreham Airshow. The weather was wonderful and the main concern was the possibility of sunburn.
Many of the aircraft taxied past and we had uninterrupted views.The AGM was held in the hanger, with occasional breaks in proceedings due to low flying aircraft. A wonderful setting.
Members' Exploits
Wright Brothers' Centennial - Andy SayersMembership Matters
New Members
Since the AGM in August we have had three new members joint the association:-- Stephen Solomon from North Weald
- Alaisdair Stewat from Dollar
- Samantha Walkinshaw from Lossiemouth