Well spring is here (I hope) and activities around the Club are moving into full swing.

To arrive at this point however, we had to endure some of the worst weather that I can remember, including a significant snowfall in March. Many thanks to Bevan Tomm and my nine-year old grandson for taking the initiative in clearing the taxi-ways and drains using a walk-behind snow-blower and shovels.

Undaunted by bad weather, other Club committees met. Your buildings committee had a work party and a planning session. The aircraft acquisition committee met and also went on field trips to evaluate potential replacements for HXT. Your constitution and by-law committee had their regular Wednesday meetings and wrapped up at the end of February. And the Club’s IMC club had their regular monthly meeting.

Your social committee put on a great kids’ Christmas party, the popular Robbie Burns day event was a hit, pool and darts tournaments are popular ongoing events and our Friday night socials have been well attended. All are encouraged to come out and take part.

There have been a couple of changes to the Board as we have had a resignation from Skylar, owing to personal and work commitments and from Ruth owing to personal and family commitments. The Board elected Clark Closkey to replace Skylar as director of flight safety. Clark is a past president, director, committee chair and currently chairs the constitution and by-law committee. The Board has yet to replace Ruth.

Your executive is working hard to replace HXT as was mandated by the membership. It has been a challenging task, but we will continue to endeavour to accomplish our goal as quickly as possible.

With the recent improvement in the weather, there will be ample opportunity for all members to become involved with the day to day operations, tasks and activities of the Flying Club. We reward our members for their participation in and contributions to the Flying Club by subsidising the flying rates. A trend presently exists wherein the same members volunteer their time to support the Club, doing the work year after year with little to no participation from our newer members. If this trend continues and it becomes necessary to hire trades and labour, it will be necessary to re-address the subsidy policy.

Air Show will be upon us soon and the various fund-raising activities sponsored by the Club will require volunteer help. If you are unsure as to how to volunteer, simply ask any senior member or any director and they will point you in the right direction. The Flying Club is a volunteer organization by nature and it is expected that members will come forward of their own accord. Besides, Air Show is always a lot of fun and it is a rewarding experience.

Ken Campbell
AFC President