Eric Smith
It is with great sadness that we have to report that Eric Smith died early this morning.
Eric has been a fixture both within the Club and around Etherow for longer than most of us can remember, and he will be sadly missed.
All our condolences go to Mrs. Smith and Eric's family.
In accordance with Eric's wishes, there will not be a funeral. He wished to be cremated privately, with no fuss.
MYA Award for EMBC
The Club has been awarded the Stepping Up Trophy by the Model Yachting Association. This Trophy is an annual national award for the most improved Club in sail boats.
John Berry, our Commodore, was presented with the Trophy recently by Derek Priestly, the President of the Model Yachting Association.
Many Congratulations to John and all of the Yachting Group members.
Membership Subscriptions
The Committee have reluctantly decided that, having kept membership subscription rates fixed for the last six years, the time has now come that, in order to maintain an income adequate to meet the operating expenses of the Club, they will have to be increased for 2023.
Operating expenses of the Club, the major items of which are Insurance and Lake and Clubhouse Rent, are expected to rise substantially in 2023.
The Committee are therefore proposing that the membership subscription rates for 2023 will be increased as follows:
Senior Membership: Increase from £30 to £35
Family Membership: Increase from £40 to £45
Concession Rate: Increase from £25 to £30
The existing Joining Fee of £10 will remain unchanged.
These subscription increases are subject to ratification at the AGM, when a formal proposal will be presented for approval by the membership.
Annual General Meeting and Prize Giving
The Annual General meeting of the Club will be held Wednesday December 14, at 7.30 p.m. in the Clubhouse, when Officers' Reports for the last year will be presented, the election of Officers and Committee for the next year will be take place, the annual accounts will be presented and other formal business will be transacted.
Nominations for Officers and Members of the Committee are invited, and should be sent to the Commodore, John Berry. The Committee needs new, younger members to ensure the continuing prosperity of the Club, as most of the existing Committee will not be able to continue in post for much longer. Any member interested in taking a role in the running of the Club should make their interest known to the Commodore.
The evening will also feature the presentation of trophies and awards for winners and runners-up of the various sailing and model construction competitions held during the year.
All members are urged to attend the AGM, the last Club meeting of the current year.
Mince pies will be served, and there will be a raffle.
Boat Judging
A reminder to all members considering entering any of the annual competitions this year.
Boat judging will take place, on the landing stage, on Sunday 30 October, at 10.00 a.m.
We will probably not be able to use the Clubhouse on that day, so come prepared for inclement weather.
Quiz and Hot Pot - Change of Date
Owing to turmoil in and around the Clubhouse caused by preparations for the Sailing Club's "Lights on the Water" event on 12 November, it has been decided that the forthcoming Quiz and Hot Pot night, originally scheduled for Wednesday 26 October, will now take place on Wednesday 23 November instead, when it is hoped that Clubhouse access will have reverted to normality.
A New Modelling Book !
Some of you may remember that, about a year ago, the Club was contacted by a book publisher looking for a potential author for a new book on model boat construction, which they were planning to publish.
Gordon Longworth, one of our elder statesman members, took up the challenge and the resulting tome is being published in a couple of weeks, on October 24.
Gordon says: " It is really aimed at newcomers, but there may be something in there that will interest more experienced modellers, even if it is only to have a laugh at some of my ideas".
The book is published by Crowood Press, and is available from Amazon as a paperback [£ 20] or on Kindle [£18], as well as the usual high street booksellers.
Club Night Talk
Don't forget that at the next Club Night on Wednesday 14 October, Chris Platford will be giving an illustrated talk on:
Hurtigruten - Norwegian Coastal Shipping Company
New Landing Stage Benches
At long last, the new benches for the landing stage have been manufactured and delivered, and fitted this afternoon.
The old benches were well past their sell by date, and the wood was pretty rotten in parts. The new ones are steel framed with the seats and backrests made from recycled plastic. They should last forever.
Photo by David Lee
Kirklees Model Boat Club
Autumn Autumn Open Day - 11h September 2022
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wilton Park Batley, WF17 8JH
The theme for the day will still be Warships and military but we intend to open this event up to lifeboats and rescue vessels. You are not precluded from attending if you do not have models of this type but no IC or high-performance fast electrics. Sail models are also very welcome. There will also be an area operating radio-controlled tanks and military vehicles. Steam powered models are welcome, but we will need to see an up to date boiler certificate.
Commodore's Challenge Judging
Judging for this year's Commodore's Challenge took place on Wednesday 24 August.
There were only three entries, and the Commodore awarded his challenge trophy to Bob McMenemie. Many Congratulations to him.
Thanks also to Mike Hodgson for providing the hot dogs after the presentation.
Forthcoming Club Night Events
Wednesday 10 August
Talk on Batteries by Geoff Garside.
Wednesday 24 August
Commodore's Challenge Judging. On the landing stage at 7.30 p.m., followed by hot dogs in the Club House, courtesy of Mike H.
Wednesday 14 September
Talk on Scandinavian Coastal Shipping and Hurtigruten, by Chris Platford.
For Your Safety - Please Take Note
Earlier this week, there was a medical incident on the landing stage. A club member suddenly passed out and collapsed without warning. Luckily, there were several other members present who were able to assist and call an ambulance, which arrived promptly. After assessment by the ambulance crew, he was taken to hospital.
This incident has, however, prompted some concerns, should a similar event happen in the future, especially when no other members are present on the landing stage. The member involved, although well known to those present, was not carrying a mobile phone or any means of identification, apart from his membership card with his name. He was also initially unconscious and unable to give any emergency contact details.
The Committee wish to urge all members to ensure that, when sailing, they carry details of an emergency contact number of a family member and any essential information on known medical conditions or medication which may be of assistance to the emergency services.
This information could most usefully be placed on a sticky label on the back of your membership card, which you should be wearing at all times on the landing stage.
In this instance, we believe that the member involved is recovering well.
Alan Breese Boats for Sale
Continuing on from the previous post, in addition to wanting to dispose of the contents of Alan's workshop, Jenny Breese also wishes to sell thirteen of Alan's completed models, which have been in store since his death.
These models are:
Canadian Corvette - K129 - Now Sold
Sir Lancelot - T228 - Now Sold
Minesweeper - M1166 - Now Sold
Harbour Tug - Mustang - Now Sold
MTB 794
Battleship - HMS Ramilles
Aircraft Carrier - HMS Invincible
Ocean Going Tug - Cruiser - Now Sold
Unpowered Towed Barge - Now Sold
Submarine U564
Harbour Tug - Smit Polen - Now Sold
Ocean Going Tug - Yorkshireman - Now Sold
Dutch River Barge - Now Sold
An illustrated catalogue of all boats offered can be downloaded, in .PDF format, by clicking HERE.
Any member interested in purchasing any of these boats is invited to contact either George Barrett or Geoff Garside, initially. The price of each boat is subject to negotiation.
Updated: 12 May 2021
29 May 2022
Alan Breese Workshop Sale
Many of you will know that when Alan Breese, our late Commodore, died suddenly a few years ago, he left behind an extremely well equipped workshop, as well as a large collection of high quality boats.
His wife, Jenny, asked the club about two years ago for help in disposing of the contents of the workshop and some of the boats. This was held up, as most things were, by the onset of Covid and subsequent lock downs. At long last, however, we have been able to start on what is likely to be a fairly major and lengthy exercise.
The first two car loads have now been extracted from Alan's workshop, and will be displayed and offered for sale at the next club night, on Wednesday 13 April.
This first tranche comprises mainly hand tools, some power tools and modelling materials. All proceeds from the sale will go to Jenny Breese.
Do not miss this sale ! - When we first saw the workshop two years ago, we were amazed that one person could have amassed such a phenomenal collection of tools and bits and pieces in one lifetime.
Further sales will be held over the coming months as we work our way further into the depths of the workshop. We have no idea what we will find then, but it will certainly be worth the effort.
DF65 Sailing - March 27
John Berry has sent a report|:
Sunday 27th March 2022 saw the first ever DF65 series race at Etherow Park.
12 boats took part in the racing all DF65s mainly with A+ rigs.
We were greeted by excellent weather for March with sunshine all day and temperatures in the mid teens.
Practice sailing before the racing commenced looked tricky with very light winds from the East however we were lucky that the wind picked up a bit for racing.
The racing was close with 5 different winners over the 11 races sailed. The overall winner on the day was Alan Bennett.
Club Night Talks
Now that life is slowly getting back to some semblance of normality, we have started to organise the Club Night talks programme again. The talks scheduled for the next few months are:
Wednesday 13 April
3D Printing by Mick Street
Wednesday 11 May
Boat Building with Depron Foam by Geoff Garside
This talk was first given a few years ago, but there have been requests
for a repeat performance.
Wednesday 08 June
Boiler Testing by John Senior
John is is the Club's official boiler tester.
Yacht Racing Report
John Berry has sent a report of Yacht Racing for March 2022. He says:
Fiestas
We were welcomed to the pond with clear blue skies and an 8mph wind from the East.
This year we have invited the DF65 fleet to sail with the Fiestas.
5 Fiestas and 8 DF65s took part in the 9 race day with the first race at 10am and the last race finishing before 12noon.
After 2 discards Alan Bennet won the day with his DF65 an A+ rig and a slightly cut down long keel.
Alan was closely followed by John Berry and Terry Miles sailing Fiestas and Stephen Toulson sailing another DF65 with an A+ rig.
Thanks to George Bennet and Neil Barton for doing most of the scoring
Lets hope for a similar turnout on the 27th March when it will be DF65 racing with Fiestas invited
J Class
The first of the J Class series racing was held on Sunday 13th March First race 10 am and the last race to be finished by 12 noon.
We we greeted by winds up to 15mph from the SW and all sailors opted for B rigs.
Trevor Redford won the day however John and Dave did make him work for his victory.
Club Nights in March
Now that life after the pandemic is starting to get back towards normal, organised activities at Club Nights are returning. The programme for March is:
Wednesday 9 March
Howard Meadowcroft will be giving an illustrated talk on the Normandy D Day landing beaches. This talk was originally scheduled for about two years ago, but got cancelled because of the first Covid lockdown.
Wednesday 23 March
Hot Pot and Quiz night. Phil Laxton has prepared the quiz, as usual - in fact, he has had it ready since March 2020, when the quiz night for that year was also cancelled.
Compstall Mills
We have been informed of a new public Facebook Group which may be of interest to some of our members.
The Save Compstall Mills Group aims to discuss the history and future prospect of the Mills.
You can access the group via this link:
John Glynn
We regret to announce, with great sadness, that John Glynn, a member of the club since 2011, died last week.
His funeral is at 2 p.m. on Friday, 25 February, at Dukinfield Crematorium.
Our thoughts go out to Mrs. Glynn and his family.
Commodore's Challenge - 2022
The Commodore has issued his Challenge for this year.
You are challenged to build a 'Club 300' electric racing boat. This is basically a Club 500 type boat, but with a smaller motor and standard, non-racing, propellor.
All entries are to be built to a single design, the plans for which have been drawn by John Goddard. Free plans will be supplied on request.
Basic Specifications are:
Single design - Must be built to hull outline of supplied plans.
Brushed motor - size not to exceed 380.
Propellor - standard 3 blade, 35 mm diameter maximum.
Battery - 7.2 V maximum, NiMH
John Goddard has built a prototype, which he will demonstrate at the next Club night on February 09, and also offer advice on construction, and tips on how to achieve the best performance.
Judging will take place on a date to be determined later in the year, but not before the middle of August, so you have plenty of time to get building.
The Commodore's Challenge Trophy will be awarded by the Commodore for the best entry, based on build quality, finish, sailing performance and 'Wow' factor.
Annual Competition Awards for 2021
David Lee has sent some photos of the presentation of trophies and awards to the several winners of last years sailing and construction Competitions, which took place on Wednesday January 26.
Clubhouse Update
We have been informed that the clubhouse now has a larger fixed generator, so power supplies are pretty well back to normal, and the electric heating in the clubhouse is working again.
On the down side, we have also been told that the water supplies to the clubhouse were cut off last Thursday - we have no more news at the moment.
This week's club night should be able to go ahead, albeit possibly with emergency water supply arrangements for loo flushing and the like, but we will post any updates here as soon as we get them.
Annual Club Competition Awards
Somewhat later than usual, the awards for last year's competitions will be presented at Club Night next Wednesday, January 26. The delay is mostly due to the engravers running late with trophy engraving.
For the record, the competition winners are:
Steering Terry Miles
Fiesta Racing John Berry
Club 500 Racing Mick Street
Derek Bingham Trophy Philip L. Davies
David Swain Trophy Terry Miles
Semi Scratch Build Dave Holland
Kit Build Chris Platford
Scratch Build John Senior
Graham Harling Trophy Trevor Redford
Commodore's Challenge John Senior
Cyril Driver Trophy Terry Miles
Congratulations to all !!
Exhibition Cancelled
We have just been informed that the model railway exhibition, due to take place at Chapel Leisure Centre on 26/27 February, has been cancelled, presumably because of COVID.
The club had been invited to attend and put on a display of boats, but this will obviously not now happen.
If this exhibition is rescheduled for a later date, we will aim to attend, if possible.
Fiestas and DF65s
A gentle view of yesterday's sailing session. A good turn out, but not much wind !
Avian Bird Flu Update
Since the last post on 7 December, Avian Bird Flu has become widespread among the wildfowl population at Etherow, and the RSPCA have had to cull a significant number of birds.
The risk of transmission of this disease to humans is low, but not zero and, so far, the authorities have not imposed any restrictions on access to the park or our lake.
However, if you are sailing, please observe hygiene precautions and make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after sailing. As far as possible avoid contact with the lake water any any other objects, especially bird faeces, around the lake and landing stage.
Especially, do not approach, or attempt to help, any birds which appear to be sick or in difficulty.
Make sure that your boats are thoroughly cleaned after sailing.