From The Workshop (Oct. 2020)
2020-10-01
Summary of Mar - Sep Club Meetings
March » cancelled (Covid 19)
April » cancelled (Covid19)
May » cancelled (Covid19)
June » held but social distancing observed
July » cancelled (Covid19)
Aug » cancelled (Covid19)
Sep » cancelled (Covid19)
Oct Club Meeting (Nomination of 2021 Officer Slate)
The Oct. club meeting will be held as indicated below. “Social Distancing” guidelines will be followed.
Date/Time/Place » 06Oct2020, 6PM, Field Club House
1800 - 1830 hrs » Dinner
1830 - 1900 hrs » Business meeting
1900 - Whenever » Hangar Flying, etc
Menu » Pizza (provided by club)
The important thing to note for the October meeting is that this is the month when officers are nominated for the next calendar year. Any “adult member in good standing” may nominate any other “adult member in good standing” to run for an officer position. The 6 jobs are President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Safety Officer, & Field Marshall. Nominations are usually made from the floor at the Oct. meeting. However, since some people have already said they will not attend the Oct. meeting due to continued Covid concerns, we will say that nominations may be made by either of the following methods: (a) oral nomination from the floor at the Oct. meeting; or (b) written nomination via an email sent to Bob Huff at bobhuff1@charter.net (Note, please no phone calls or texts) at any time during the whole month of October and all the way up until the voting time at the Nov. 3rd meeting.
Nov Club Meeting (Election of 2021 Officers)
Our Nov. club meeting will be held as indicated below. “Social Distancing” guidelines will be followed.
Date/Time/Place » 03Nov2020, 6PM, Field Club House
1800 - 1830 hrs » Dinner
1830 - 1900 hrs » Business meeting
1900 - Whenever » Hangar Flying, etc
Menu » Hamburgers (plus fixings)
The important thing to note for the November meeting is that this is the month when officers are elected for the next calendar year. Election of officers is accomplished by majority vote of the members in attendance at the Nov. meeting. Therefore, come out and join us if you possibly can…..you can get a great meal & also vote for your favorite officers at the same time! The three most important work items for the 2021 officers are: (a) arrange to keep the field mowed & maintained; (b) maintain club financial solvency; and (c) continue to attract good quality members who like to fly & have fun!
Dec Club Meeting (Annual Christmas Party)
We usually do not have a club meeting, per se, in the month of December. Instead, we usually have a Christmas party/Christmas dinner at some restaurant where we can enjoy a nice meal together and have some laughs by playing “dirty santa gift exchange” (i.e., we exchange gifts of $15 value or less, and people are allowed to “steal” other people’s gifts). We are unable to say at this time whether we will have a Christmas party or not this year because we just don’t know what the Covid guidelines will be at that time (i.e., some people may not want to attend, some restaurants may not want to accommodate a large group, etc, etc). Therefore, more detailed information concerning the Dec. meeting will be given at a later date when more accurate Covid guidelines are available.
Flying Site Is Open
We advise that the club flying site is indeed open for active flying, and the usual Tue/Thur flying group is pretty much back to normal! The flying field is a pretty safe bet because it is easy to observe “social distancing” while at the flying site. Please come out and join those sessions if you can! Or, if you can’t join those sessions, then feel free to fly any other day of the week that you may like. The site is always mowed and ready for flying any day you want to come out!
Status Of Lawn Mowers
Due to some recent maintenance, we have two workable Husqvarna’s at this time. However, the John Deere & the Troy Bilt are presently inoperable, and their age makes it unlikely that they will ultimately be salvageable. The two Husky’s will get us through the remainder of this year without any problem, and we will keep our eyes open for another good used mower (that is also economical) to potentially purchase in the next year. Our treasury is currently in good shape (see also related paragraph below) and, thus, buying a new mower should not be a big problem.
Our Club Is Financially Sound
As mentioned above, our club Treasury is in as good a shape as it has been in several years. This is due to a combination of the following reasons:
- Our Treasurer manages all expenditures very well!
- Lawn mower maintenance & repairs are done by volunteers.
- All site mowing is done by volunteers
- All ant treatments, weed spraying, building maintenance, & other related site maintenance items are also done by volunteers
- We’ve had some charitable donations from various members over the past year which significantly helped the Treasury
We are certainly happy to report our solid financial standing, and wish to say a heartfelt thanks to all those members who have given of their “time, treasures, & talents” over the past year to help make our club one of the finest in the whole upstate area!
No Dues Increase For 2021
Because of the fact that our club Treasury is currently in good shape, the officers saw no need to even raise a discussion of increasing dues for calendar year 2021. Therefore, for 2021 dues will be the same as they have been over the past several years (i.e., Adult member=$75/yr; Junior member=$25/yr; Disabled member=$45/yr). As you know, other similar clubs in the area have dues that are significantly more than this, ranging from about $100 - $150 per year. We consider this a tremendous bargain. Not only do we have one of the most beautiful flying sites in the whole upstate region, members can enjoy this site for lower membership dues than any other site in the general area! As stated above, our Treasury is in good shape because of two primary reasons: (a) all site work/maintenance is done by volunteers; and (b) several members have given unsolicited charitable donations to the club!
Hunters On Site
We wish to remind all members that we are coming into the season where we will have hunters on our site, in addition to those of us who will be there flying models. This has not caused any problem in the past because all the model flying takes place at the extreme Eastern end of the property and all the hunting takes place at the extreme Southwestern end of the property (the total property is 76 acres, giving ample spacing). Additionally, the officers have tried to generally coordinate with the hunters to let them know where the flying club members will be (i.e., around the runway, sheds & clubhouse) and to assure them that we will respect their right to use their hunting lease. Therefore, if you are at the flying site and come into contact with some hunters, please extend to them every possible courtesy, and then go about your flying as usual. In case you have to go retrieve a model which has landed off-runway (i.e., in the woods), please do not interfere with any “trail cams”, “deer stands”, “hunting blinds”, etc that you might come across.
Important Reminders
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If you are a new BSRCC member, please familiarize yourself with the following documents found on our website at
: - “Club Bylaws”
- “Noise, Overflight, and Flying site map”
- “No Flying Over Pits and Parking Lot”
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Please check the status of your FAA registration and renew it if needed.
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Please check the status of your AMA membership and renew it if needed.
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Please check the status of your BSRCC membership and renew it if needed (i.e., 2020 membership dues may be mailed to Nelson Swords, 228 Ellison Lake Road, Williamston, SC 29697, Tel=864-940-5817, Email=nelsonaswords@gmail.com).
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Broken Prop Blades, Trash, Etc - in the interest of both safety and neatness, please help pick up broken prop blades and other debris when you see it at the field.
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Tree Climber - this person is generally available to climb trees for you to retrieve downed airplanes (i.e., Mr. Murray Holloway, tel= 864-671-9781). His fee is “negotiable”.
Humor Is The Best Medicine
Here is a link to a short “funny” that someone sent to me & I thought you might like it as well!
That’s all I have for now. See you @ the flying field!
-JB