Dear Member

Members' forum - 25 May 2002

Thank you to all members who were able to attend the members' forum on 25 May. The forum covered considerable ground and reflected a wide range of individual members' views and suggestions in a positive and constructive manner.

We have attached a summary note of the key issues arising to this letter. This is not a full minute but seeks to encapsulate the essence of what was discussed. Distilling this to its "bare bones", the feeling of the meeting can be expressed as:

1. There is no appetite for a single seater / non-training club. However, some move to increase ad hoc instructing arrangements would be welcome (and is being addressed).

2. Members would like to see a degree of improvement to the Club's social facilities  but not a "big bang" project. A number of members might be prepared to finance such improvements by way of debenture but there is little appetite for one-off contributions with no return.

3. Whilst some money should be kept for a "rainy day", the Committee are encouraged to come forward with proposals for improving social facilities using the VAT fund.

There was a necessity to keep.to tight time limits to cover ground as far as possible. Naturally, this meant that not all aspects of each headline subject could be covered: suggestions for areas which could be discussed at subsequent forums are shown on the summary note.

Thank you to Tim Hirst who gave a presentation on the Club's finances at the outset of the forum - this was a valuable cornerstone to informed subsequent discussion. Tim's slides are available in the club office.

Those members present felt that the forum was useful; should be repeated; and that the format was about right. Willing volunteers are now needed to organise and facilitate future events! If you would like to play a facilitator role, please let the office know.

Thank you once again to those members able to attend for your contributions. If you were not able to attend, you are warmly encouraged to come to future forums.

Kind regards

Booker Gliding Club members' forum on Saturday 25 May 2002 Summary of matters discussed

Please note that this is not a full minute of the forum but a headline summary of the key issues discussed.

The forum started with a presentation by Tim Hirst on the club's finances: the detail of this presentation is not reproduced here although TWs slides are available to members from the club office.

Discussion subject 1 - the "shape" of the Club (45 minutes)

Facilitator.. Alan Green

Members were asked for a show of hands as to whether they would wish to see a club without training facilities: there was no support for such a concept.

There was considerable discussion around the balance between booked / rostered instruction and trial lesson arrangements vs ad hoc flying. A number of views supported the principle of offering booked instruction - this concept is attractive to pupils (and therefore beneficial to the Club) in the modem environment where time is so scarce. However, in response to members' concerns, the Committee are also keen to offer instructors more ad hoc instructing opportunities: Tim Scott outlined a new system to make this available which he and his father had instigated (see in the clubhouse).

Other views expressed included 'the need for more tug pilots and the high importance of launchpoint organisation.

Matters for a furthe forum

Time available did not permit extensive discussion around the age profile of the club, attracting younger members, and measures which could be taken to increase the club membership.

Discussion subject 2 - club facilities (25 minutes)

Facilitator - Paul Brice

The discussion focused primarily on nonfleet facilities - in particular the clubhouse arrangements and the blister hangar. In response to a concern about hangaring the new Pawnee, Dave Byass explained that this had been considered and a solution was possible without re-developing the blister hangar.

A show of hands indicated strong support for some form of "medium" extension to club social facilities - where members felt there was much that could be done to improve the ambience of the club, perhaps extending the existing clubhouse. Some members present felt that making facilities "family friendly" was important. There was low support for a "do nothing" approach or a "big bang" very substantial investment (such as a new blister hangar / clubhouse concept). The issue of the Club's tenure at Wycombe Air Park was discussed and optimism was expressed.

In terms of financing such a project, appetite for this would depend on the specific proposals made. However, there was some support for a debenture concept (very approximately half those present on a show of hands). Appetite for financing a £200k "big bang" concept through member contributions of £1,000 each was zero - although members pointed out that the question was not sufficiently specific to enable members to reach an informed judgement.

The critical point was made that the capital expenditure of such a project was one thing meeting the additional running costs (such as ground rent) another. Any proposals will need careful financial evaluation to ensure that they are sustainable in the context of the Club's financial position.

Matters for a further forum

The discussion only touched briefly on the fleet; and there is considerable scope for further discussion around the detail of any improvement to the clubhouse arrangements...

Discussion subject 3 - the VAT fund (40 minutes)

Facilitator: Jack Luxton

Jack presented the current status of the VAT fund. Essentially, net of "loans" to the Club (to be repaid from launches) and other expenditure made to date, there is some £96,000 of available cash. A proportion of this is planned to be applied inter alia to the new Pawnee leaving, very approximately, £60-70,000 freely available.

A broad discussion took place on items to which this cash could be applied: these included inter alia replacing the Kl3s; replacing the motor glider within the medium term; upgrading the top single seaters; and extending the social facilities.

There was a feeling that a proportion (unspecified) of the monies should be kept for a "rainy day"; but the Committee should be encouraged to come forward with proposals to the members in general meeting to invest the balance in club facilities.

There was a show of hands to indicate levels of support for applying such money to invest in either improvements to the blister hangar; or social / clubhouse facilities; or the club fleet. This showed overwhelming support for improvements to the social / clubhouse facilities.

Matters for further forum

Any application of the VAT fund to a specific project will need a formal vote of the members in general meeting. However, there is scope for discussing the detail of any proposed facility improvements prior to such a meeting.