| Notice Board
A new place
for notifying members of important matters
DVD of members' models
Dave Stratford and Tony Holt
have, between them, taken many hundreds of superb photographs of our
club boats in action over the last couple of years. Tony has
compiled a DVD of many of these stills for us to display on a
monitor at shows (e.g. Leamington). When I saw his first
version I was so impressed that I felt it would be good to offer
copies to Club members, and we are now in a position to do
this. If you would like one, see Tony at the poolside,
cross his palm with £2 (£1 for the production of the DVD and £1
for Club funds) and he will bring your DVD the following week.
I promise you won't be disappointed; I've just received mine and
there are enough superb photos on it to keep you enthralled for
hours!
Proposed 'odd-ball' race
Cancelled due to a complete
absence of volunteers to run it.
Upton Warren attendance register
The new Business Manager for
the Council's Outdoor and Environmental Learning Service has asked
us to keep a register of members who visit Upton Warren on our
regular third Sunday of the month. This is part of a drive
to gather more accurate records of who uses the
Centre. You're therefore likely to
see a committee member (or maybe even a volunteer) with a clipboard
noting the names of members present. If you think you may have
been missed please make your presence known to the bearer of the
clipboard. Clearly the more we use the Centre the more likely
we are to be able to continue to use it, so those of you who have taken to visiting County Hall
on our Upton Warren days might like to consider returning to the
Upton Warren fold. |
Shows and
Events 2009 -
dates for your
diary. (Grey =
passed, Red =
soon, Black = to
come)
January 31st. RNLI Fund
Raising day at Upton Warren.
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This event was well
supported with a good number of both UWSC and DSMBC members
attending. The weather was sunny but cold and windy.
Catering was excellent - courtesy of Ian and Ged - and all our
planned events took place. The bring-and-buy was particularly
well supported and we more than filled our large gazebo with stuff
to sell, which ranged from workshop equipment through various
model boats and aircraft to books and magazines. We displayed
our models in classroom 2, as opposite, but on account of the very
strong wind sailing was restricted to yachts. The series of
yacht races was easily won by Michael Thompson with his
superbly-tuned 1m. 'Guess the weight of the sub' was won by a
young lad from the UWSC who proudly carried off the prize of a large
motor bike plastic kit, donated by Bob Lee. I believe the
approximate weight was 22 lb one-and-nineteen-sixty-fourths ounces. |
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Despite our best efforts to keep the
tone of the event up,
a few undesirables managed to creep in,
although they didn't cause any trouble. 'Hear no evil, see
no evil, speak no evil' comes to mind! |
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Our thanks must go to
everyone who turned up on a chilly January day to support this event, and
in particular to the committee members (plus Ged!) who collectively put in
a lot of work to make it happen. Our contribution to RNLI funds from
this event was £184; a magnificent achievement.
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February
14th (Saturday). Coach trip to the Fleet Air Arm
Museum Model Show.
Everyone
who signed up for this turned up on the day, despite not having been asked
to pay in advance; there's dedication for you! And what a good day
it was: the entire contents of the museum plus a large model show, plus
model aircraft flying outside. The model show occupied three halls;
here's a rather spectacular photo of one of them, courtesy of our resident
photographer, Dave Stratford:
Concorde is prototype 002 and you can walk through it - and under it and
round it, and round one of its engines.
What a magnificent aircraft this
is! A real testament to the days when engineers were motivated by
technical challenge and vision rather than by the whim of
accountants. Sadly, there can be little doubt that we will never see
the likes of it again. Another notable 'exhibit' at the museum was a
helicopter flight to an aircraft carrier, followed by visits to the
carrier's flight deck and control tower. It really was very convincing; you
start by boarding a helicopter, the doors close and you 'take off' for a 2
minute flight to the carrier. When the doors open you are on
the flight deck of the carrier, surrounded by real aircraft including a
Phantom, a Buccaneer, a Fairey Gannet and others. Powerful
projectors then provide you with the spectacle of aircraft landing and
taking off and it's difficult to resist the temptation to duck as the
landing aircraft speeds towards you with its arrester wire at
full-stretch. All this is accompanied by a powerful and convincing
surround-sound system. You're then shepherded into the
carrier's control centre for visits to the operational areas, your
progress from area to area being controlled by red and green lamps.
The attention to detail is magnificent and you really do feel as though
you are on board ship watching real action. Oh, yes, and the Model
Show wasn't bad either, although it was heavily biased towards plastic
kits. There was even a genuine 3-rail Hornby Dublo layout; what a
trip down memory lane! Our sincere thanks must go to Admiral Green
for his single-handed organisation of this excellent day.
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March
24th (Tuesday, 7.30 pm). Presentation of cheques to RNLI.
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Venue: Upton
Warren Sailing Centre. This was a joint meeting of the DSMBC
and the Upton Warren Sailing Club, with representatives of the
Bromsgrove branch of the RNLI in attendance. About 20 members
of the UWSC turned up, but despite our efforts to
rustle up support we managed only three from our club: Trevor Coveney, Bob Lee
and myself. Tea, coffee and biscuits were provided by the UWSC,
and the RNLI played two very impressive and moving DVDs about their
work, both at sea and as lifeguards on busy summer
beaches.
Cheque presentations were then made by club representatives to
Jenny West of the Bromsgrove RNLI branch. Here's your very
own
Hon Treasurer handing Jenny a cheque for £184.
A convivial evening all round, and a great conclusion to a very
successful fund-raising event. |
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April
5th (Sunday). 10th Stirling Engine Rally.
Venue: Kew Bridge Steam Museum.
Another magic gathering of Stirling Engines of all shapes and sizes,
held in a museum full of huge working mill and pumping engines. Those of you who weren't there really missed a treat!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - April
18th and 19th (Saturday and Sunday). South West Model
Engineering, Model Making and Hobbies Exhibition at the
Royal Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
I was pleased to note that several DSMBC members made the long trip to
Shepton Mallet to enjoy this interesting show. There was lots to
see, much of it outdoors, and the weather was sunny and fine. I was
able to fly the DSMBC flag with my trusty hovercraft, which performed well
against all-comers!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - May
3rd and 4th (Sunday
and Monday). Wythall Transport Museum Open Day
The usual bunch of stalwarts turned up to grapple with the dreaded
'sevens and threes' and afterwards enjoyed two pleasant, if sometimes
rather chilly, days playing boats and entertaining the punters.
Nostalgic bus rides (for example on a 1950s-vintage Crosville
single-decker) added their unique brand of entertainment, together with a
ride behind a 7 1/4 - inch gauge Black Five for only ten bob.
Here we are setting up on the Sunday morning, before things got
cracking.
Particular thanks are due to those members who gave their time on days
before and after the event to set up and strike the portable pool. |
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - May
10th (Sunday). Club Barbecue at Upton Warren.
A gloriously sunny day on which a grand total of 43 people turned up for
this event! We sailed our boats then enjoyed bangers, burgers and onions washed down
with tea, coffee or squash, or something more potent for those who fancied
it. Then we sailed our boats a bit more and finally packed up at
about 3pm. Our thanks are due to Admiral Green who ensured that
everything was well-cooked, and also to John and Maureen Webb, Howard
Beard and Trevor Coveney who between them organised most of the logistic
support.
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June
6th and 7th (Saturday and Sunday). Wolverhampton Steam
Fair.
Venue: West Park, Wolverhampton.
| For as many years as I can remember
we've been fortunate enough to have superb summery weather for this
event. Well, 2009 proved to be the end of our run of
luck. After a recent spell of warm and sunny weather,
Saturday dawned with heavy rain that persisted all day.
Undaunted, our club stalwarts led by Trevor Coveney were up at the
crack of dawn and had the gazebo rigged well before the agreed
assembly time of 0900. We rigged the tables, adorned them with
our boats and then adjourned to the (dry and warm) West Park Cafe
for an excellent breakfast. We were joined by
Stourbridge and Kingswinford clubs, and sailing commenced with yours
truly's hovercraft (whose skirt was soon full of rain!) An
encouraging number of boats were sailed during the |
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day and so the few punters who did
brave the elements definitely got their money's worth from the model
boat fraternity.
I felt very sorry for the brass band, who
commenced their scheduled two-hour slot promptly at 1400 to a public
audience numbering exactly zero. So, having donned full waterproofs,
I went and sat as their sole admirer for half an hour or so, as
captured here by our resident photographer, Dave Stratford.
I'd like to have stayed longer but by then I was wet and cold so I
adjourned to the cafe again for a warming mug of tea and a bar of
nutty. Before I got back to the boating area I could hear the
distant clanging of sevens and threes - the 'stalwarts' had had
enough and were packing up! |
| The rain continued overnight, and on Sunday
morning members of the Stourbridge and Kingswinford clubs were
conspicuous by their absence! True to form, however, the DSMBC
hard-core sailors were on-site and ready to do their stuff.
However, much of the rally site was a quagmire, the pool had flooded
and many of the rally participants had departed. Our team
waited until 1030, when it was still raining cats and dogs so they
decided to call it a day. Hey-ho, you win some, you lose
some! Let's hope for a more 'normal' rally next year!
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June
27th and 28th (Saturday and Sunday). Model Steam Road Vehicle
Society Rally, Tewkesbury.
In complete contrast to
Wolverhampton, the MSRVS Rally was blessed (again!) with a
gloriously sunny weekend. Twenty club members turned up to
bring boats, man the stand and enjoy the show, nine of them for both
days; and what an excellent weekend it was! Here's the Saturday
gang, just after we'd set up and had breakfast. Note the
good display of boats, and also (just visible) the world's
only model of a solar-powered bacon slicer; another DSMBC first.
The rally centred round an amazing display of model traction engines
(the largest weighing over three tons!) which kept us entertained,
together with numerous individual displays (mostly of a very high
standard) and several useful trade stands. We'll be back next
year. |
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July
29th (Wednesday evening). Bromsgrove S.M.E. open evening.
Like the one we were invited to last year. An excellent evening,
with the opportunity to ride on and drive passenger-carrying trains.
Beware, these things are addictive and you might get hooked!
We'll need to know numbers for this event very soon, so think about it.
August
21st, 22nd and 23rd (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Bristol
Model Engineering and Hobbies Exhibition. Venue: Thornbury
Leisure Centre, BS35 3JB. This is always a really good show, with
something for everyone. And Thornbury's an easy place to get to.
September 19th and 20th (Saturday and
Sunday). Exhibition of model-making organised by the Bromsgrove Society
of Model Engineers. This will be held at the Guesten Hall at the
Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove, adjacent to the B.S.M.E's track. The
exhibition is planned to include boats, cars, aircraft, helicopters,
railways, general model engineering and the work of model wheelwrights.
Tight security will be provided overnight. All exhibitors will enjoy
free entry to the museum and to the railway. The B.S.M.E will provide
light refreshments. We have been invited to set up our portable pool
and to 'play boats' on it for the two days whilst enlightening visitors on
the delights of our hobby. This sounds to your committee like an
excellent and enjoyable event that we should do our utmost to support and
so we have agreed to put it in the club diary.
September 27th (Sunday). The 2009
DSMBC Plank Race. We need an extra-special effort from everyone
this year; surely we can't let Boffin Rodda walk away with all the prizes
again!
October 16th - 20th. Midlands Model
Engineering Exhibition. Venue is Warwickshire Exhibition Centre,
Leamington Spa.
October 11th (Sunday). Proposed
coach trip to the Duxford Imperial War Museum Autumn Air Show.
Featuring modern and historic aircraft. The cost (coach +
entry to the show) will be in the region of £30 per head and tickets will
be sold in advance. If you're interested, please see Admiral Green
soon. We have to fill the coach to make this financially viable.
October 17th and 18th (Saturday and
Sunday) Blackpool Model Boat Show. This could be an
alternative coach trip to Duxford (i.e. we do one or the other!) Let
Admiral Green know soon if you'd prefer to do this one.
November 6th, 7th and 8th. International
Model Boat Show, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Leamington
Spa. We've now received our official invitation to this event
and we have agreed, as last year, to put on a pool display each day and
also to make two or three simple boats available for use in a 'children's
hour'. Passes will be available on the same basis as last year, i.e.
priority to those who can attend for more than one day and who are willing
to bring a working boat. A reminder that boats have to be displayed
for all three days. Last year we didn't use our full allocation
of passes, so put your hand up even if you can only make one day!
We'll do our best to arrange transport for boats of members who can't be
there for the first and/or last day(s).
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2009 Committee
Your committee members until
December 2009 are as below:
Jim Cook - Chairman
Trevor Coveney - Secretary
Bob Lee - Treasurer
John Webb - Show Secretary
Ian Green
Bob Brooks
George Aldridge
We welcome Bob Brooks and George
Aldridge to the committee and look forward to their enthusiastic support
during the year. We'd also like to thank Richard Wootten (who
decided to retire at the 2008 AGM) for his many years of conscientious
service on the committee. Some other committee members might decide
to retire in December 2009 (which is getting ever nearer) - will you have your hand up to replace one of
them?! |
| Click
Here for a link to Tony Holt's model boating site - one
of the best there is! |
| A typical Sunday gathering at County Hall photo: Dave Stratford |
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