Back in November of last year at one of our monthly meetings we were discussing the noise problem and how to show the locals we were not the big bad ogres that they made out, especially by one or two of our most vociferous opponents from the housing estate. A number of ideas were thrown into the hat. One of these ideas was to promote model flying at the local schools. Great I thought but this needed someone to drive it forward. Enter yours truly to plan and organise a day of model flying at a local school.

I decided to choose my daughters school, Coit Primary School, Chapeltown, Sheffield for two reasons. Firstly I knew the school and its teachers and therefore I was on familiar ground. Remember this would be our first ever event and I needed to be on friendly ground just in case there was an outside chance the day turned out to be a disaster. At least then I could approach the teachers and ask what went wrong, and what could be done better for any future planned events. Secondly the school has an enormous playing field which would be ideal for any flying demonstration, With this in mind I composed a letter to the headmistress asking if such a day was possible, preferably with children in the age group of 9 years and over.

A couple of weeks later courtesy of my daughter’s school bag I received a letter from the headmistress, who thought it was a great idea and asked that I attend a meeting with the teachers who taught children in the specified age group. At the meeting I outlined my plans for the day. Basically the morning consisted of a brief introduction to the club and our models and then a questions and answers session. This was then to be followed by the class splitting into small teams to build and fly the BMFA Dart, ending in a competition where a prize would be awarded to the team with the combined longest flight and the individual longest flight. This would then leave most of the afternoon for a flying demonstration on the school field. To be honest I could not believe the enthusiasm shown by the teachers. I was asked if it was possible to take two classes. I declined the offer, as I was hoping to take one class, make a good job of it and then possibly be asked back at a later date for another event with a different class. I was also aware that I would need quite a few volunteers to help, two classes would be stretching my cover and come the day if anyone dropped out, which people invariably do, I did not want to be left short and let the school down. A date of the 14^{th June was set.}

Back at the club I asked for helpers and sought out our members with ‘B’ certificates who would be willing to give a flying demonstration. It was pleasing to see a good response. Sam Wragg one of our members who is a past a British National Aerobatics Champion went one step further by lining up Gary Rowlands a show circuit helicopter demonstration pilot. A meeting was held to outline what I had in mind and to brainstorm what tools, glues etc.. which would be needed by each helper on the day. I gave a presentation of the Dart to give us a good idea of how it was built, and handed out photocopies of its building instructions. The first meeting went well, one of our flying instructors Steve Fox even brought the tools, needed to build the Dart, and subsequently wanted to build my demonstration model there and then. A good idea but we planned this for the second meeting along with the organisation of the actual flying display. I took home our suggested check list of requirements and proceeded to type them up so copies could be handed to each helper nearer the date. I also made out copies of a map showing directions to the school. I was getting a tad excited about the event, and was pleased with the way the first meeting had progressed and how enthusiasm was building . There were a number of things I had not thought of. Simple things from the provision of stop watches for the competition, to ensuring we had written permission to fly on the school field and more importantly to ensure we informed the BMFA of our intentions. We had decided earlier that we did not have the time or the helpers to supervise each child building a dart each, but a team of 3 or 4 children would be the ideal size for each helper to supervise. This would mean approximately 11 teams. I made a note to order the required number of Darts with a few spares just in case of any accidents.

The next meeting went even better. Steve Fox and myself provided the building tools and 7 eager beavers us set about building the Dart. Frank French one of our more senior members took on the role of master builder and cut all the balsa to length and shape, its amazing how some modellers can make this look so easy, Frank could virtually do it by eye. A big discussion took place on the best use of glues. Watered down white glue came tops with cyno for selected joints to speed things up. 1 hour later we had built the dart and were busy test flying it round the room. We spent the rest of the evening finalising the smaller details.

The day dawned warm with an overcast sky but with very little wind. In fact perfect weather. We all arrived bright and early and placed our models in the school hall. They gave a very impressive display and drew admiring glances from passing pupils and teachers alike. The class took registration and trooped into the hall. I gave the class a brief talk on the models, how they were built, controlled, powered etc.. The children showed lots of interest and asked many questions. The usual ‘how much do they cost?, how far will they fly? and do they ever crash? were all asked. I took my time and answered each question patiently. Each child was given a chance to work the transmitter sticks and then it was on to the actual building.

What can I say the enthusiasm showed by both boys and girls was a pleasure to watch. Even the teacher got stuck in and helped. The session was frantic but by lunch time each group had built a reasonable looking model. We did have the odd mistake. One helper who shall remain nameless glued a model permanently to the building board, the odd piece of balsa was cut short but on the whole the models were a fine achievement. It was interesting to note that the girls were more methodical and built neater models than the boys who tended to jump in feet first and not read the instructions.

Leaving the models for the glue to set gave Gary Rowlands just enough time to give a display with Derek Stow's Piccolo in the school playground. This drew gasps, even more so when a gust of wind sent it spinning into the concrete and broke it into various bits and pieces but cheers when it was quickly put together and restarted . Derek is a friend of Gary and both are members of the Sheffield Woodhouse club, Derek is the club chairman. Derek had heard of our event and agreed to come along and help out. So on the day we had a representatives from the Sheffield Woodhouse Flying Club and our own Concorde Model Flying Club. What can I say? a great show of co-operation, I just hope we can pay back the favour to the Woodhouse boys in the future.

After lunch the long awaited competition took place. Every child had the chance of a couple of test flights before each made his competition flight. The models flew extremely well most of the children achieving good flights. Ian Thomas acted as the timer, I did flight organisation whilst Dave Broxholme and Dave Wilks armed with cyno, bits of balsa and tape made on the spot repairs. Despite valiant efforts a couple of the models got to the stage where they were beyond repair. This had been thought about in advance and as such we had built a spare model as backup. The teams used this as substitute for their broken model. Much to Steve Fox’s delight the team who he had supervised won the shield with the individual Laura Davis a member of the same team taking individual honours.

With the competition over and everything running like clockwork it was on to the last part of the day, the display. Dave Broxholme, Dave Wilks and Steve Fox gave fine fixed wing displays with Gary Rowlands doing his bit with the helicopter. The children cheered and clapped every flight. Just the ticket to finish off a day which exceeded all my expectations.

The day had been a complete success. There were things we could have done better, but not bad for a first attempt. It was very touching that every one of the children personally thanked us before leaving school. Hopefully this will become an annual event or if we are lucky we may be asked back again late this year, either way practice makes perfect. The event was also covered by our local paper so great publicity for the club too. What more can I say, every club should give it a go don’t just think about it do it. I am sure you will be made welcome by the schools in your area. If you need any help or advice then drop me an email. Oh and take a look at our web site www.mystuff.btinternet.co.uk to see our pictures and the story in the local paper.

peter@grenville52.freeserve.co.uk