A reminder to inform members that the International Model Boat Show at Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Leamington Spa is on from Friday the 6th November until Sunday 8th November details can be found on the link below.

The trip to Jokita last saturday was well attended and the club was given a warm welcome as usual, we wish to thank them very much. There have been some new photos added to the photo album page of our sailing at the pool last wednesday afternoon.

Ivan has arranged a Club visit to Jokita on Saturday 3rd October at 10.30 am details will be given later. These visits are usually very good a chance to buy a model or some fittings, the club is always given a warm welcome and a chance to take a look at there latest models.

The Enville and the Kings Heath shows went off fine as usual both events are good days out with lots of interest in the boats. Ivan we are glad to say has recovered his car fortunately undamaged.

The Enville show is on Monday 31st August we will start to setup at about 11am it will last until about 5pm, last year this show was very good so please pop along to visit and support it.

It is with great sadness to announce the death of Betty, Harold's wife she passed away this morning. All our thoughts and prayers go to Harold and their family and friends, she will be missed by everyone. The funeral will take place at Stourbridge Crematorium on Friday the 7th of August at 1.30 pm

It is also with sadness to announce the death of Ron Seddon a former member of this club details of his funeral can be found on his clubs website at http://www.kingswinfordmodelboatclub.co.uk/

The show at Mary Stevens Hospice was another sucess the weather was fine and there was a lot of interest in the boats although at times it was difficult to talk because of the PA system.

The Steam Festival at West Park on the 6th and 7th June unfortunately was a wash out due to heavy rain over the two days although it brighten up on Sunday 7th in the afternoon. Some of our members left there boats in there cars whilst other clubs either went home or didn't display there boats we were all hoping for a break in the weather that didn't arrive, there is always next year. There were a few boats sailing but not as mainly as usual brave soles. We must point out that a peg board is always in use at this type of event, it was reported that some people sailing were not using it this would have caused problems if the weather was fine and more people were sailing from various clubs so please remember the peg board policy.

This month Harold brought along one of his Scratch build Subs, he described his construction methods and the workings of the internal parts. Other members brought along there latest builds to discuss. We would like to welcome our new member who also brought along his boat under construction to show us and have a chat about.

Details of the show at West Park next month and the passes were given to members attending, this is normally a good couple of days out and a chance to meet members of other clubs and have some fun sailing as well as other attractions.

The Life Boat Show is on Sunday the 17th May 2009 at Baggerridge Country Park will any members with Life Boats that wish to attend please contact Harold for full details. Unfortunately in past years only Life Boats have been permitted at this show, if you haven't got one please pop along to give some support, members from other clubs will be there to chat with.

Over the last few days I have been contacted by people wanting to purchase or have the design details of the ESC mentioned earlier this year, unfortunately due to time constraints these can only be made for our club members, there is no intention at this time to make them or give design details to none club members . Details may be given later with the opportunity to purchase the pre-programmed microcontroller used, if home constructors want to build there own. There are a number of them in use by our club and have proven to be very successful both the previous design and the new design.

The display at the Crown Center in Stourbridge was well attended with over 40 boats on display. The public who came to take a look showed a lot of interest and over 10 membership application forms were taken by all ages, we hope they will visit us down by the water and join us. There are some photos on the Photo Album page taken just after setting up.

The links pages have been added to with some useful links. Check out the following link http://www.componentshop.co.uk it can be found on the links page, possibly the best priced batteries around plus other goodies.

The Show in the Crown Centre on the 9th and 10th has been confirmed, please arrange to bring your boats on Wednesday afternoon after 2pm Vic is ringing round with details.

The AGM took place on the 18th and the Committee agreed to be relected again this year but it was stated that some members will only hold there posts until next year by there own request.

It has been decided to have a new banner made that reflects our affiliation to the MBPA with both our logos on it, ideally this will be smaller than our existing banner and will be displayed at all our sailing activities and events.

We were also told that the Council now requires the appropriate Test Certificates for all Steam Powered Models and Risk Assessments appertaining to them, if they are to used in Public areas, they will also be raising the minimum third party insurance cover required. Fortunately our Club foresaw this and has already done it.

Please be reminded that from now until June the use of the Lake is restricted to 3 days a week due to the wildlife breading season. Please be carefully not to startle the birds whilst sailing.

This time of the year it is a good idea to make shure that your batteries are in good working order, why not take a look at the Battery Care link on the Technical Links page, there are some very useful tips .

A reminder that the AGM is on the 18th this Wednesday, you should now have received a copy of the minutes and financial report so please try to attend and bring you MPBA membership cards along for laminating.

Its is now time to try out winter projects, regular waterside meetings will commence shortly and remember that evening waterside meetings commence in April, the details are on the calendar page.

This winter not much sailing has been done because for long periods the lake has been frozen or covered in rubbish this has now been all cleaned out by the grounds personnel and is now back to top form a big thanks to them.

We have found out why the site was having problems in January it was under attack from BOTS trying to take the site down, this is becoming a greater problem for all computers nowadays, the only thing to say is make sure your anitvirus, firewall's and spyware are all up to date and please do some manual scans don't just rely on them to auto scan.

This evenings meeting forth coming events were discussed and full details and membership cards were given out concerning our MPBA membership. It was discussed that the club puts on a static show in the Crown Center Stourbridge sometime in April round about the Easter weekend further details will be given when known.

Please be reminded that the AGM is next month and if possible all members need to attend, it is believed that all the committee posts are available therefore nominations are requested in the normal manner.

There have been some problems with the talktalk servers over the last few days causing this site to be off or slow in loading. The problems have now been fixed so business as usual.

Over the last few weeks I have been working on a new microcontroler esc and mixer for the Bluebird of Chelsea as seen on the projects page I will post some details on the website when the trials have been carried out as they will be low cost devices that could easily be constructed at home by people with some electronic knowledge.

Both the Christmas Lunch and the Party went off very well with our better halfs attending the lunch. A few items changed hands at the bring and buy including a huntsman a steam launch hull and a boxed piccasa as well as various tools and some hardware everyone went home pleased. There will be some photos when they get emailed to me.

The Club has gained a five year lease on Heath Pool thus giving the club a stable future with known costs, also the decision has been made to apply for affiliation to the MPBA with the club members joining them, hopefully this will be achieved early next year. We will all then enjoy the benifits associated with the MPBA.

We would like to wish our members and all Model Boaters a Very Happy Christmas and New Year. Its now time to decide on our next projects so give the links pages a look at they might help.

Please note that at the December meeting being held on 17th important information will need to be discussed before the Christmas party commences, please be shure to attend as your views are needed.

This months meeting consisted of another quiz although of a musical nature, thanks to Harrold for his efforts. This year the Club is having Christmas Dinner to be held at The Plough Inn, Wollaston on the 15th December members will meet at 12 noon at the Inn. Will any members not present at the meeting contact Harrold for details, although he will be in contact with you shortly.

Major work to improve the Clubs access and standing aeras at the lake has commenced it is expected to last until Spring and will give a much better outlook for our sailing activities.

I have been contacted by other Model Boat Clubs requesting links are placed on our site to there's, they can be found on the Other Clubs page, we trust that they will be of interest to you.

Last Wednesdays sailing at dusk went off very well but because of the ambient light conditions the photos were very poor and not worth displaying ( glare caused by street lighting ). Many thanks for the emails I will put some of your ideas into practice.

There is a new link on the links page to http://www.wonderlandmodels.com they are a general Hobbies Model Store in Scotland, so give them a visit and see what they offer.

This Wednesday the 24th September is the last evening meeting at the waterside for this year, Weather permitting it has been decided to sail our boats with there lights on, this should be a nice sight with the lights reflecting in the water at dusk.

This months meeting members brought along there latest models, both built and under construction, there were lots of ideas talked about and suggestions given. We all gave our latest member a warm welcome.

We were told why the Clubs invite to the Dudley Water and Light Show had been withdrawn, (politics who wants to know) it is believed the club will not be attending these functions in the future after many years of support, we hope the club replacing us will give as much support as our club has given in the past.

This month it is the 1st anniversary of this website and it has proven to be very popular with lots of hits on the link pages, these give links to a variety of useful companies aimed at the modeler and some technical info, more will be added in the future. The aim is to give our members and visitors a one stop place to find anything they are looking for, to do with model boats of course.

The Enville show went off very well with lots of people and sunshine, this was the first time our club has attended and we hope to be invited back in the future. We wish to thank the organizers for there invitation.

Today's visit to Jokita was enjoyed by everyone that attended, we came away with lots of info and some offcuts of wood many thanks to them. The highlite was the discussion on there new range of models and the research gone into the design of them. The Club and it's members wish to thank them for there warm welcome it is always a pleasure to visit them and spend some money. We wish to welcome our new member to the club who attended the visit with us.

Now that the school holidays and the warmer weather have arrived at last, there is now a lot of interest in the club by the youngsters coming in the park. The evening meetings started of well but petered off a bit this was because of the short time between the afternoon and evening meeting. they are now picking up again as it gives a chance for members at work to meet at the pool, and youngsters normally at school. There are no more events until the end of August when we know more they will be posted on the calendar page. I have been asked to print off some of the slides shown at the last meeting to give to our members as reference material, as a few have put the ideas into practice with some good results.

This evenings meeting was the concluding part of talk on Model Boat Wiring, I think it went quite well, but I would I gave it. The talk lasted about one and a half hours and many questions were asked and answered, members discussed the topics in full and a lot was learned by everyone. The visit to Jokita has been changed to the 9th August, also we agreed to take part in the Enville Fare on August bank holiday the date will be given when known. Many thanks J and her school for the loan of the projector.

The Mary Stevens Hospice Day was a great success, there was a lots of boats on display and was supported by a large number of our members. There was also a lot of interest in the boats and the club. The weather was mainly sunshine with only a couple of heavy showers in the afternoon. At the Wednesday Evening meeting there will be the final talk about Model Boat Wiring and Electronics, a local Primary School is lending us a LCD Projector to display the drawings and other related information, a great thanks to them. The Kings Heath event is on again this year details will be given when known.

The weather at the Six Ashes Show was disappointing there were heavy showers all day but it was still a success. We were approached by an official of the Enville show that takes place on August Bank Holiday if the club would like to attend this year, Vic will be in contact with him to get the details later. The Mary Stevens Hospice Show is on this Saturday, we meet up at about 9am to setup please attend we need as many boats as possible it is usually a good day.

We can now use Heath Pool 6 days a week remember not on Sundays. The Six Ashes show is on this weekend, it is raining now so we will meet tonight if it's fine. We think that the show at Mary Stevens Hospice is on again on the 12th July details have got to be given by Vic. Whilst standing in the rain down at the pool this afternoon we met a possible new member sailing his boat!! hopefully he will join us soon. A list of members has been sent to us all giving contact phone numbers and addresses.

The meeting went well with lots of questions asked and will continue next month. The date for the Surface War Ship Association Clubs event at West Park has been announced and is on July 13th you are welcome to pop along it's free, they are going to build a launch area for the models. The waterside meetings on Wednesday were a disaster what with the weather and some trouble in the park the night before.

The West Park event was enjoyed by everyone, Stourbridge, Sandwell, Droitwitch and The Surface War Ship Association Clubs attended with a lot of chatter and idea changing by everyone. The weather on the first day was warm in the morning but clouded over in the afternoon whilst on the Sunday is was warm and sunny. The Surface War Ship Association is going to hold an event at West Park in July details will be given when known. There was no support from the Kingswinford Model Boat Club don't know why !!! some of there members have attended in the past. There was the usual behavior where people in rowing boats tried to interfere with the models whilst others helped boats in trouble that's life today. There are some photos are on the Photo Album page of the Clubs Models. Ivan has arranged a visit to Jokita details will be given at the monthly meeting.

The meeting tonight went well with a waterside meeting before the normal monthly meeting. The content of the meeting was a Nautical Quiz as well as a general chat and discussions on members modeling problems, as a result I was asked to give a lecture at next months meeting on the electronics and wiring of models leading to a general discussion on batteries and motors of different types and there uses. Thanks to Vic for the Quiz, Harrold is also arranging a full Club Meeting at Baggerridge Country Park on a Wednesday or Saturday afternoon details will be given when known, Ivan is also going to arrange a visit to Jotika at some point in the future to give our new members a chance to meet them and have a chat, and maybe spend some money, we all need to restock.

Our evening waterside meeting last Wednesday went well (unfortunately the first meeting was cancelled because of bad weather). There were a number of spectators interested in the club and the boats we fell that these meeting will become more popular as the year progresses. Unfortunately there has been a very disappointing response to the letters sent out to previous members that failed to rejoin after the AGM although a SAE was enclosed for the reply !!!

Some visitors to the site are experiencing slow page loading at certain times of the day, this is due to a large amount of use on the Talktalk servers, the company is aware of this and is in the process of upgrading the servers it should improve in the future.

Please remember that the Wednesday Evening Meetings commence this Wednesday the 30th April at approx 6.30 pm weather permitting, please phone the contact number before attending. Visitors are most welcome to pop along and have a chat.

The Ridgewood High School show went well although the weather was cool and overcast, there were more boats on display than expected some photos are on the Photo Album page. There was a lot of interest in the boats and the club.

The Lifeboat day that is usually held at Himely is now being held at Baggerridge Country Park on the 24th May. If anyone is interested and has a Lifeboat please contact the Rangers at the Park for details.

The meeting was a general chat meeting, the forthcoming events were talked about and a warm welcome was given to an interested visitor. Richard will be contacting last years members that have not yet rejoined the club. Saturday 19th April is our first event of the year at Ridgewood High School all members of the public are most welcome, the days events are to help the school funds and is usually a good day.

The AGM went very well, the committee was re-elected on block and the clubs finances are healthy, therefore the cost of membership remains unchanged. It was also decided to sail on Wednesday evenings as well as the normal times, the start date can be found on the calendar page. Full details of the meeting can be obtained from The Club Secretary.

Please note that because of a huge amount of spam the clubs email address has been changed, a new one has been created. To email the club you must use the Contact Us page on this site, if the old address is used emails will not be received. So please ignore any email address found on the web it has changed.

Tonight was a club night and general chat . We welcomed two new members Paul and Mike to the club and discussed methods of wiring one of there boats also ways of repairing an old bread and butter constructed boat that is coming apart at the joints. There was also a discussion on evening sailing but nothing has been decided yet. Next month is the AGM meeting nominations are requested for the committee members, in writing please before the AGM. Some members have started to use the Baggerridge pool to sail on a regular basis, full club meetings will be planned later in the year to support there activities.

Members are reminded that from March sailing days will be Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only until July because of the wildlife's breading season. The Model Motors Direct page has now been taken off this site as there new website is now up and running a link can be found on the useful links page.

This evening members brought along there models to take a look at and to discuss, some photos were taken and can be found on the Photo Album page. A suggestion was made that the club sails one evening a week in the spring and summer months to enable members that cannot sail during afternoons a chance to sail, this will be discussed at the next meeting to decide what evening. We would also like to wish our new member a warm welcome to the club.

There will be a new For Sail page added to enable members to sell unwanted models or related items to anyone interested. These will be private sails only, more details will be given later. There will also be Tip of the Month comments that will give some handy tips or useful links on a selected topic.

Tip of the Month This time of the year you have probably noticed that your batteries seem to run down more quickly than usual, this is due to colder conditions or they may be in need of some maintenance the following link is worth a visit, it describes maintenance methods and other useful information on the types of batteries that modelers use.