Fly Ins

You could always come and join our club, Simon - we need some more active members!
(and the grass is cut weekly during the growing season!)

Paul put - Any plans for a fly in
It was tried, a couple of times, by one of our founders, Gary, but had little support. If you dig right back into the old posts, you might find a link to some photo's and a report.
The first one was held at a large - just being developed - camping and caravanning site called Oakhill that offered lots of woodland walks, and large fishing ponds, the owner even mowed a large patch for us, and permitted full use of the 'facilities', on the edge of a disused RAF base (now a building site!) - Swinderby. If memory serves, about a dozen turned up, myself, Klippy and Q included. Most of the others who attended have since moved on to other things.
A second one was held, same place, a year later, but it was a washout, with heavy rain and half a gale. When I got there, everyone had given up, packed up, and gone home again.
I made tentative plans to have one up here in the NW, at our old flying site, about six years ago, but because there were no facilities, no water, no loos, etc, there was zero minus interest.
What does happen is the BMFA Nat's weekend is often used as an unofficial 'gathering' - with agreement to meet up at a certain landmark at a set time, or hope to 'bump into' others as they wander about.
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The problem is - no matter where it is held - some people have a long way to travel to get there - and if it is a one day event, another long drive home again.
Then of course, there is the unreliable UK weather to contend with!
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You-Tube spat out my airborne vid of the location - rather wobbly, and before I'd found an 'editor' to remove the rubbish at the two ends -

Found a few photo's -

Belated edit to the fly-in - Klippy wasn't there - I met him at the Nat's a year or so later! -In this 'still' from another unreleased wobbly flying vid, you can see why we were landing so far down the field! Overhead power-line to the farm-house!-I still have three of the models shown, the Fox camera-ship is now 'retired' in the loft, as the foam is getting floppy and soft, the little blue MSX (pocket rocket), and the mini-mossie.-
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Or I would do it the pc would let me! I get 'image too large', but if I run image converter to reduce it, I keep getting a 500 error!
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Well - that sort-of worked, but only as a thumbnail - click on it to enlarge.

As I recall I was at the 2014 Nats, loved it. The problem with us people is that we're all different, with different interests, once we've had a chat, what else is there? With the best will in the world I don't think I would have much else in common with any of you. Having said that, I would love to see another get together, it's just not doable for me in the near future.

Phil was a very special person who drank and smoked to excess (tell it like it was) he spent the last too many years of his life in constant pain but refused to give in. Garry never forgave Tony (BB) for giving Phil a bottle of whiskey at the 2013 Nats, Phil repaid the compliment by drinking the entire bottle in one sitting!
A man who knew what his right arm was for!

Paul - give me advance warning, then I can be elsewhere!
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Seriously, you'll be welcome, but we've been having bother with motorbikers using a farmer's field as a scrambling track, blocking the road up with vans, ripping up the hard track WE had to pay for, and depositing mud everywhere, so you might need someone to come down to unlock the gates to let you in (and out!)
If they've taken the hint or respect the solicitor's letter, they'll have gone elsewhere, and if there's someone AT the field, the gates will be open.

When Mike has time to re-instate the Cafe thread, he's going to have an awful job untangling all the wrong-thread chatter, and putting it back where it should be!

Fly in discussions moved to here.
Somehow the program won't change the original title on the moved posts.
I wasn't being negative about a Fly In but Paul is right, I'm a miserable old git, Mary reminds me constantly.
In order to do what we do, we spend large amounts of time on our own, we've done it since we were kids, and it hasn't prepared us for real life very well.
I personally would love to read about another fly in, sadly I can't see me ever being there. Mary struggles more and more with the business of life, it's now at the stage where I can't even go away for a day to help my sister, without there's some kind of crisis at home.