SIMON CRAGG Posted September 30 Author Share Posted September 30 I have made good progress with the rest of the committee, made a fresh Facebook page, our website has been updated, and had great support from the BMFA, So far so good. I have also started writing up a piece for the local papers, and this is where its not going quite so well. Has anybody got a copy of an article promoting their club / model flying, that they had published please? Also, I am only going to get one shot at this, so best time of the year to submit? I was thinking January, as I would imagine a lot of events are getting down to some serious planning at this time of the year. When they are planning and have a "spare bit grass over there", that is where I am imaging us going...optimistic I know. Can anybody help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 (edited) https://woldsweekly.co.uk/2022/02/find-out-more-about-willy-howe-model-flying-club/ Hopefully the attachments are different! We didn't write any of these - we asked if they were interested, and they sent a photographer/journalist WoldsWeekly (1).pdf WoldsWeekly.pdf Edited September 30 by GrumpyGnome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted September 30 Author Share Posted September 30 Fantastic, pretty much the same article I was thinking of composing!. Many thanks for making the effort to post it. Safe Flying, Simon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 (edited) Well written articles - not a crashed model or the usual 'big boys at play' stuff. Nicely Informative and welcoming. Can't see how you'd improve on those. Was wondering 'who' Willy Howe was......now we know. Edited September 30 by Cuban8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 We also had a mention in an article about our involvement with a week long Summer Club for a local school where Andy S from the BMFA, and a neighbouring club (PANDAS) supported us with activities like paper planes, stomp rockets, taster flights, and the BMFA gazebo full of sims.... but I can't find that I'm afraid. It was only a line I think. Whilst we've had a few new members in the last 18 months or so, I don't think any actually came from these activities or publicity. We've had a few that contacted us through our web site, having found us via BMFA club finder; don't know if Facebook has attracted any interest - lots of 'views' but probably from people who already fly at another club, or like being outside the club structure (certainly judging by the Comments). Having said that, our email address us on it, so some queries may have been generated. We don't really have enough activity for a newsletter, so our website updates are typically photos and videos..... few members provide any other input. Facebook is always just photo or video updates. Good luck Simon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted September 30 Author Share Posted September 30 Thanks GG, I know its going to be an uphill struggle, I am getting support from our club but in reality, I am sure a few view it as: "Oh, its Simon at again with his bright ideas"! Anyway, if it all goes to rats, we continue to lose members and the remaining few cannot afford the rent, then at least I can say that I tried to save the sinking ship. I am trying to remain positive about the project but get cheesed off when apathy starts to creep in from certain negative members. Onwards and upwards!. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 Don't let the knockers prevent you giving stuff a go Simon, they never contribute so ignore em. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted September 30 Author Share Posted September 30 3 hours ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said: Don't let the knockers prevent you giving stuff a go Simon, they never contribute so ignore em. No chance, in a past life I had a plethora of wasters trying to do me down.....they failed!. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Colbourne Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 (edited) Another approach to getting new members is to run an Adult Education Course via the local authority. I did this back in the 1990s for a couple of years, and had something like 45 people though the courses in two years. In the second year, I was running three courses a week. A beginners course, a continuation course and an advanced course (people who had already done two terms). One chap was driving from Marlborough to Camberley and back, a 110 mile round trip, for the course. I encouraged everyone to swap phone numbers, so they could share building experiences between lessons. I'm sure this helped alot with the cameraderie of the groups. It started off as a purely classroom lesson, teaching building techniques and guiding the pupils in what equipment to buy. It soon became apparent that the actual flying was the main thing they wanted to learn, so in the second term we did flying with a buddy box on the school field on Saturday mornings. Initially all the flying was on my model (well, actually one borrowed from a friend), then as the pupils' models reached completion, we would test fly them and get them flying their own models on the buddy box. This was before the days of multi-memory transmitters, for me anyway, so in one three hour period I set up several different models and flew with nine different students. I went home and slept for the rest of the day after that! To run a full 13 week course, you had to have, as I recall, twelve students. If you had less they would either not run it or run it for less weeks. The onus was on the tutor to do their own publicity so I wrote bits for the editorial in the various model magazines, got a bit in the local paper and even did a bit of fly-posting at the Sandown Park show... 😊 Pupils ranged from in their teens up to 89 years old. A lot had models they had started years before but stopped through lack of knowledge or life getting in the way. We had a lot of these older models in the air by the end of the term and many of the students went on to join their local clubs. First class of the first term Winter term class - flying out on the school field Yes, I did demonstrate engine starting by running a Mills 1.3 in the classroom! Edited September 30 by Robin Colbourne 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted October 1 Author Share Posted October 1 Brilliant, looked like a lot of fun. I tried this with our local AEC a few years ago, but only got 3 people register which did not meet the minimum required. Shame, as they had a fantastic, sports field!. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Colbourne Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 4 hours ago, SIMON CRAGG said: Brilliant, looked like a lot of fun. I tried this with our local AEC a few years ago, but only got 3 people register which did not meet the minimum required. Shame, as they had a fantastic, sports field!. Hi Simon, Great to read that I'm not alone in trying this approach. Having the right venue, you are most of the way there. All I can suggest is to try, try and try again and massively ramp up the publicity side of things. My approach was definitely one of try every method of publicity that I could think of; apologise afterwards if necessary, but don't let the naysayers get in your way. You could even contact local TV and radio stations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 I really do take my hat off to the people who put themselves out to boost our hobby. If I may be permitted to say that I've done a bit of that myself in the past and know how difficult it can be to make progress and not become disillusioned. I've passed that particular baton on to others, but still remain in the background doing more in the way of admin stuff (memberships etc) which I enjoy immensely. I know several people who have over the years, worked on encouraging young folks via after-school modelling clubs - building a project 'plane and getting it up and away on the sports field, but I don't recall any of that effort resulting in juniors seeking to join a club and developing that interest and first experience. I would be a mistake to believe it's worthless to even try the approaches that have been described - but I'd beware of putting in too much in the way of resourses and don't be overly disapponted at not getting the response that one might like. I'm not naysaying or being grumpy, but feel it's worth flagging up the fact that the world of many practical hobbies such as ours, have lost much in the way of a following since the days of my youth, and have been in decline since the availability of affordable home computers and the games explosion that followed in the 1980s. I'm not pointing a finger solely at the obsession with gaming per se resulting in our hobby's challenges today - certainly there are several other contributing factors - but the attraction of the 'virtual world' is very powerful compared to our often spartan and cold flying fields, where a moment's inattention can result in a destroyed model and no game reset button to press. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 We received this from the BMFA....... maybe this will help you? Your club will probably have it too....... Working with BMFA Youth Groups The BMFA has just finalised a new agreement with the RAF Air Cadets (RAFAC) and we are hoping to create a directory of clubs that are willing to act as 'Mentor Clubs' for RAFAC Squadrons and other BMFA Youth Groups who approach us. (Scouts, Schools etc) We envisage the role of a Mentor club to be assist a Youth group by enabling model aircraft experience flights usually at the clubs flying site but possible also at other sites available to the Youth Group, as well as assisting the youth group with activities and talks at their meetings and assiting with design and building advice if a youth group wishes to enter competitions such as the BMFA Payload Challenges. Please note that all members of BMFA Youth Groups are covered by the BMFA Insurance, but only when taking part in activities with a Senior member of the youth group present. Please select the most accurate statement from below. * We do not wish to engage with any youth groups We are willing to act as a mentor club for a youth group including the use of our flying site for organised youth group flights. We are willing to assist youth groups with activities and talks but are unable to enable youth group flying activities at the club flying site. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 On 28/09/2024 at 12:17, Romeo Whisky said: I think we must face the fact that our prime market is newly-retired men, and that is the demographic from where almost all our recent members have come. Incidentally, we hardly ever get enquiries from people who've just bought a quad-drone they want to fly, and mostly they seem to just want a few quick pointers and don't join. Sadly the majority of website enquiries on our website come from folk who want to donate or sell old models - theirs or those of deceased relatives. Draw your own conclusions from that. We attract a steady stream of younger flyers but retaining them isn’t easy. They rely on parents to bring them to the field, fund their hobby and help them with repairs. We do have 3 club trainer models and help wherever we can of course. It’s easy for them to drift away in winter when poor weather prevents flying and they don’t have room for a workbench that can be used to build something on and help them retain interest. Club nights can help to some extent here. In some cases we hope the countless hours spent helping and training have embedded an interest that they’ll return to in the long term. It’s not easy though, especially as we only have two instructors who are prepared to help out of a club of 60 members. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 6 minutes ago, David Ashby said: .... especially as we only have two instructors who are prepared to help out of a club of 60 members.... Gosh, that's disappointing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 (edited) 23 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said: Gosh, that's disappointing.... Same sort of figures in both of my two clubs. Difficult to get people to commit to being available on a regular weekly basis, although better to say no rather than messing learners about by being unreliable. Older members who are prepared to teach are usually retired and fly during the week - just when younger types are at work! Not always the case, but we've run into this recently and although not a complete show stopper it does make things less easy. In my own experience, when I was working I'd fly every Sunday unless the weather was very bad - I'd usually have one pupil on the go. I've been retired for a number of years now so I can get my flying fix at any time during the week - I still fly at weekends, but it might be two or three weeks between visits depending on the weather and other activities. Edited October 1 by Cuban8 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 Thinking about the above, I should add that cultivating good relationships with parents is just as important. Portaloos, tea making facilities etc. all help. You really do need to go out of your way to make people welcome so visiting isn’t a chore for the non-flyers. Every Saturday is for training, that way people can plan ahead, although we ask beginners to say whether they’re intending to visit so the two instructors know if their services are not required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted October 2 Author Share Posted October 2 Fairly recently we gave a presentation to our local Air Cadets group. We took along all our "Hanger Queens" etc. which were carefully packed into various cars. For most of us, it was a 30+ miles round trip. We arrived early, and spent the time carefully displaying the models and working out who was going to what / when. They (30 youngsters plus staff) seemed to listen carefully, but even though we tried to get audience participation, there appeared to be a lack of enthusiasm. After our presentation finished, we invited everybody to come and look closely at the models. Result? Miserable failure. Three youngsters seemed slightly interested, the rest were more interested in the Tuck Shop which had just opened. We were not even offered a cup of tea....nothing. We offered the staff the opportunity to visit our field with any cadets that would like a buddy box lesson..........nothing. All in all a total waste of time, never to be repeated!. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIMON CRAGG Posted October 5 Author Share Posted October 5 Fantastic support from Andy and the team at the BMFA. Box of promotional items arrived today, all we need now is some decent weather for our photo shoot, and a few BMFA handouts / flyers etc. Started gathering together local papers to obtain editors details etc. I would like to have a "Simulator Suite" at the back of our display, and to that end, asked our club members if anybody had a redundant Phoenix Sim package. So far, I have got a laptop, and a TX donated, so just the Phoenix software / Dongle etc Time to make that "Simulator Suite" sign I think!. So far so good 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Colbourne Posted October 12 Share Posted October 12 (edited) On 27/09/2024 at 16:41, Robin Colbourne said: I recently emailed the editor of our local free newspaper asking if they would like an article and sent a few sample photos. The editor was very interested and put me in contact with the sports correspondent. The net result being that I submitted a 300 word article about our recent bungee and electric glider competition, together with some action shots of members giving the bungee gliders 'a good heave ho'. The article finished with info on the other types of models that we fly and the training arrangements that the club offers. From looking at other sport & hobby articles, it is pretty normal to finish with the club or Membership Secretary's email address. The paper is published four times a year with the next one in October, so I'll report back here on what, if any, interest the article generates. I would strongly advise contacting the editor first before writing an article, as you can then gauge what style of article would get the best reception. The October issue of our local free newspaper, 'The Ems', arrived through the letterbox today, and much to my surprise, they printed all three of the photos that I submitted with the article. It appears that they didn't edit the text down at all, so it still made as much (or as little...) sense as when i sent it in. Perhaps that was because I did make a point of sticking to the 300 word limit that they requested. Edited October 12 by Robin Colbourne 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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