Welcome to the BMFA’s Centenary Celebrations Club Support Guide
A 100th birthday is a special occasion and we’re delighted that you can join us in this unique moment for British model flying.
Over the course of 2022 we hope to explore our sport’s amazing history, whilst enjoying all that it has to offer today through a series of events, fly-ins and shows. At the heart of everything we have planned are our members. We wish for the next 12 months to be a period of model flying that you talk about with your family, friends and flying friends for years to come.
Whilst we have lots of exciting plans in store, we want our affiliated club network to enjoy and celebrate in its own, special way. This guide will give you lots of ideas of how you can be a part of our national events, but we also want to support you and your club in whatever it would like to do. From a fly-in to a friends and family BBQ, from a fun-fly competition weekend to inviting a local school to come and try model flying, the BMFA are here to support your club, making 2022 a truly amazing year.
2022 - An Exciting Year Ahead
Our anniversary year is a very exciting milestone for all of us to be a part of. Not only will it it be a great year to be a model flyer, it’s also a wonderful opportunity to explore our sport’s rich history; looking back to where it all started, how it has developed, the various disciplines that make up our modelling family, and a chance to explore the exciting future ahead.
We’re also very mindful that 2022 is the perfect chance to showcase model flying to a whole new audience. A 100th birthday is a marvellous thing and to be celebrated. By revelling in everything that the BMFA and model flying are, we hope to engage and enthuse lapsed modellers and future pilots alike.
We want our individual members and clubs to be at the very heart of everything we do, and that includes the exciting and unique centenary celebrations. On pages ahead we’ll look at some of the exciting events that we have planned, but more importantly, how would you and your club like to celebrate? Our affiliated club network covers the length and breadth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and we’d love to see nothing more than clubs celebrating and doing what they do best… having wonderful fun whilst out flying with friends.
This guide is designed to whet your appetite for what is to come and inspire your club to get involved. We have a dedicated centenary website where you’ll find further, in depth support to help make 2022 truly amazing.
Who’s up for a party? It’s time to get the plans underway!
You & Your Club at the Very Heart
The BMFA is nothing without our members and affiliated clubs, and that’s the very reason we would like you to be at the very heart of our big birthday. 78% of all model flyers are introduced to the sport through a friend, family member, or friend who is a member of a flying club, so let’s together make 2022 the year we introduce more people to model flying than ever before!
The ways your club can be involved are extensive; we’ve listed a few examples below to get you started. Often a simple discussion with fellow club friends will bring many more ideas to light.
- Hold a Flightfest event and join in with the National Model Flying
- Hold a club Fly-In and BBQ with members encouraged to invite their friends and family
- Invite your local newspaper or radio station for a flying lesson. Simply call or email them, you’ll be surprised at just how receptive they will be.
- Have a stall at a village or school fête.
- Have a stand at a local agricultural, memorabilia or car show. Perfect events where you will have a great mixture of all ages to showcase our sport to.
- Invite your local Scout, Girlguiding, ATC or other local youth group for a flying session. Modelling is part of many of these groups’ activity programmes and they will welcome your club’s
- Sports clubs; football, rugby, hockey, bowls club etc. Invite them along to join you for a day of flying.
All of the above ideas will allow your club to celebrate whilst making lots of new friends, that sounds perfect to us!
Club Support Material
We hope that your club’s centenary celebrations make an enjoyable and lasting impression, both for your club members and the public that join you to discover more about model flying. One way that you can make an even longer lasting impression is for your club to invest in good quality and durable promotional material.
A few examples of the types of promotional products that are eye- catching, long lasting and inexpensive are listed below.
- Large format outdoor banners.
- Pull-up
- Laminated reusable
- Sail flags.
- Customised and branded
- Branded club clothing and accessories
Does your club use a local model shop that would like additional promotion? If asked, they may be willing to have their logo added to your club’s promotional material in return for paying part of the cost of production.
We often find many clubs worry about ordering PR material because of the need for logos or artwork. Many suppliers will often include free artwork if asked. Equally, this is something that BMFA HQ are able to offer support with.
2022 is the perfect opportunity to make your club even more visible within the local community, in a polished, professional, fun and approachable way.
Club Training Programme
Having a structured training programme in place, with defined and reassuring steps for the members of the public that are attracted to model flying through your club’s centenary celebrations, is a proven way of attracting new blood to your club, whilst also enthusing and retaining existing members.
The RC Achievement Scheme is the prefect way of delivering this. The scheme is run by the BMFA as a national scheme and it is open to all RC model flyers. This also has the added benefit of making your club a safer and more enjoyable place to be and be a member of.
The scheme is not about a license to fly, it is all about personal goals and challenges. It is intended to provide every RC flyer with something to aspire to and aim for, should they so wish.
You will find the team behind the Achievement Scheme very relaxed and approachable; they love to see nothing more than a progressive club that offers this facility to those members that would like to explore their personal flying goals.
You can find out more about starting a Club Training Programme through Club Support Officer, Andy Symons. You will also find lots of interesting information and insight at the Achievement Scheme website.
A Social Club in the Community
We hope that this guide has given you and your club members many ideas of how to enjoy and celebrate this unique year ahead, whilst helping to showcase your club and the world of model flying to even more members of the public.
From the outset we wanted our centenary celebrations to be about our members and their clubs and we hope that the guide has given you inspiration to try a mixture of events and activities, safe in the knowledge that the BMFA is on hand to help and assist whenever the need arises.
There is no doubt, if a sizeable proportion of affiliated clubs work through this guide, ticking off each page as they progress from project to project, not only would everyone have tremendous fun, it would bring a very real and positive impact for the clubs involved, the sport of model flying and the model trade too.
No matter what centenary activities your club decides to try, focus on making sure that you and your club friends have fun. You know the personal pleasure that model flying gives you, the friendships you have made, the personal challenges you have enjoyed and succeeded at. If you can pass on that enthusiasm to your local community, your club will soon be welcoming even more new members, ensuring the wonder of our sport is enjoyed by generations to come.
Andy Symons - BMFA Club Support Officer Paul Tallett - BMFA PR Consultant www.100.bmfa.org
andy@bmfa.org 0116 244 0028
