What's your club membership size & fees?

[Christopher Morris 2]

Hi, being a newbie i wasn't sure on the membership size of electric RC plane clubs & just wanted to get an idea on the clubs around the UK & there fees. I realise with many you also have to join the BFMA as well.

Thanks

[cymaz]

St Austell DMC £22 / year + Bmfa. Looking for new members

[Peter Miller]

Stour Valley Stickbenders. about £100 a year plus BMFA but we do have a perfect field. We do have a very limited membership due to restrictions by the landowner.

[Martyn K]

Leek and Moorlands MGA. Membership about 175, fees £8 per annum if paid before end of Feb. Absolute bargain.

Martyn

[Ace]

Tadcaster & District MFC £60 + BMFA. Perfect 65m circle with new members always welcome.

[Simon Knight]

Shropshire Model Flying Club, £60 plus BMFA, reduced depending when joining in the year. Currently 60 members with space for more.

[Chris Berry]

Nuneaton Aeromodellers Club. Around 90 members of which about half are regular flyers. £20 joining fee and £65 a year. BMFA is separate.

Edited By Chris Berry on 29/09/2019 09:10:44

Edited By Chris Berry on 29/09/2019 09:13:00

[leccyflyer]

I've recently moved house so at the moment I'm a member of four clubs. My old club, where I've been a member for 7 years, has about 35 members, beautiful flying field suitable for most electric powered models, with just a few IC flyers - subs are £25 plus SAA/BMFA membership, no joining fee. Most of my flying pals are at that club, but it's an hour and a half away now, so I can only really make occasional visits, mostly for events. My sloping club has two flat field sites, flies on several slope soaring sites and has about 40 members, subs are £15 those remain my "local" slopes, even though they are all more than an hour away. I haven;t tried any slope sites closer than that yet.

My new clubs are a small (though beautifully formed) electric only club, with a nice field five minutes from home, very laid back feel and about 20 members, subs are £20, plus SAA/BMFA membership - I'm a country member of BMFA. For larger models I'm a member of a mixed club which is predominantly glow, petrol, turbine and large models, though with quite a few electrics, with a much larger strip, club hut and facilities about half an hour away. Membership of the larger club is significantly larger, probably 50-75ish, club subs are £60 plus SAA/BMFA.annually.

[Tim Flyer]

North London Model Flyers . Fees are £100 for seniors (not including BMFA) and membership number around 50 although as at most clubs it is most frequently attended by about a dozen of the keenest members.

Edited By Tim Flyer on 29/09/2019 09:17:03

[Cuban8]

It'll cost you £180 to join my club, £100 after the first year including BMFA - less than the price of a single coffee shop coffee per week. Very large E/W and N/S bowling green quality (well almost) patch and maintaining the outfield doesn't come for nothing and accommodates all models and all wind directions, hard stand parking, and basic amenities for shelter and making a cup of tea. 105 members at the moment, but I reckon a fall next year because of the registration nonsense ticking off the less active members and old age taking its toll.

Edited By Cuban8 on 29/09/2019 09:37:14

[Tim Flyer]

Our club also has full facilities with clubhouse and hot/cold water and kitchen plus toilets. We also have a storage shed and lawn tractor. We have a large E/W runway and a NE/SW one which helps with crosswinds . We also have a lot of flying tables . Our biggest cost is land rental but also a fair bit is spent on ground maintenance all in all the 100 annual fee is very good value.

Edited By Tim Flyer on 29/09/2019 12:56:51

[Christopher Morris 2]

I am about to join the Kings Lynn club "but not till January when their year starts" & with the slight increase they expect to be £55-£60 next year with a membership of around 60 "but not confirmed" Plus you have to join the BMFA for the insurance.
Its interesting to see the price variations & size of the clubs that are around. Would be nice if clubs would let you join at any time & not on the 1st of January just after the Xmas expense. There are very inexpensive ways to track memberships these days either online or with a computer.

[Cuban8]

Posted by Christopher Morris 2 on 29/09/2019 14:39:31:

I am about to join the Kings Lynn club "but not till January when their year starts" & with the slight increase they expect to be £55-£60 next year with a membership of around 60 "but not confirmed" Plus you have to join the BMFA for the insurance.
Its interesting to see the price variations & size of the clubs that are around. Would be nice if clubs would let you join at any time & not on the 1st of January just after the Xmas expense. There are very inexpensive ways to track memberships these days either online or with a computer.

I'd have said that it's most unusual for a club to only accept new members at the start of the year - I really don't see any advantage in doing so. My own club, of which I maintain the membership admin, will take new members at any time, with various reductions in fees as the year progresses - as does the BMFA. Our club year does run from January to January however, to keep in step with the BMFA membership cycle.

Looks like Kings Lynn club does accept members during the year according to their website!

Edited By Cuban8 on 29/09/2019 15:11:36

[leccyflyer]

That's not what Christopher Morris is saying. He's saying that he wishes that clubs would permit paying for membership on a calendar year basis from when the member joins the club and not to all have to pay their subs at the beginning of the year each year.

[Andy48]

Posted by leccyflyer on 29/09/2019 17:43:32:

That's not what Christopher Morris is saying. He's saying that he wishes that clubs would permit paying for membership on a calendar year basis from when the member joins the club and not to all have to pay their subs at the beginning of the year each year.

Perhaps Christopher would try being treasurer for a few years, not only collecting fees piecemeal, but also checking on a weekly/monthly basis those who haven't paid.

[Michael Barclay]

LAMMAC. £80.00 p.a. inc BMFA membership. 50 member limit, Nice friendly club.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

We're not an electric RC plane club as per the original request so our fees are irrelevant but we have recently introduced a policy for new members joining late in the season where they pay a full fee but get next year's club membership "thrown in".

This then makes it worthwhile joining late in the year and, for new flyers, getting plenty of training opportunities over the winter and hopefully being ready to take their As early in the season ready to "fill their boots" during the year.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Ace]

Our Tadcaster club (£60 + BMFA) mirror the dates and discount % of the BMFA as membership runs 1/1 -31/12 - 25 members.

[Peter Miller]

Our annual payment is in March. If someone joins late in the year they get the rest of they year for half the annual fee. BMFA membership is paid for in December.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Christopher Morris 2]

Posted by Andy48 on 29/09/2019 18:41:01:

Posted by leccyflyer on 29/09/2019 17:43:32:

That's not what Christopher Morris is saying. He's saying that he wishes that clubs would permit paying for membership on a calendar year basis from when the member joins the club and not to all have to pay their subs at the beginning of the year each year.

Perhaps Christopher would try being treasurer for a few years, not only collecting fees piecemeal, but also checking on a weekly/monthly basis those who haven't paid.

I'm afraid its a case of moving with the times. There is lots of inexpensive membership software out their that automates a lot of this & makes less work. But you need 50+ members to warrant going this way. I am just joining a club "or will in January" that wants a cheque or postal order. I havant given, received or seen a check book in over 20 years. But hopefully they will take cash.

[SIMON CRAGG]

Our subs are due by cheque or cash by the 31st of November each year. If payment is not paid by the 31st a re-joining fee of £30.00 is automatically triggered. We need funds at this time of the year to pay our club site landlord and of course the BMFA. Works a treat this way.

[Cuban8]

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 30/09/2019 20:57:26:

One club I was in years ago moved the payment to the beginning of April. Trouble was, by then people were coming up with all sorts of excuses to delay payment due to other commitments.

The most effective way to put a stop to most of this is to offer a 'discount' (important to label as such rather than as a penalty or rejoining fee IMHO) after increasing your club subs by a suitable amount. We had a lot of this bother years ago, people leaving their subs until the fine weather or all sorts of other spurious reasons. We upped the subs by £15 and then offerd a 'discount' of £15 for prompt payment i.e. by Jan 1st. Stopped the problem in its tracks. No objections, because the majority of members paid on time anyway. The half a dozen regulars who would always pay late and thus cause a disproportionate amount of extra admin dragging on well into early summer, soon mended their ways.

Edited By Cuban8 on 08/10/2019 12:43:35