Tina can send you proper minutes !

Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Sullivan Richard Mannering Martin Harris Chris King Brian Mills Richard Sutton Samantha Allen Bryan Wakefield

Apologies for absence:   José Fernandez Simon Hennessey Terry Golding Irene Golding

Matt threw open the meeting (and his flies!)

Tina can send you proper minutes !

Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Sullivan Richard Sutton (aka Chippy) Samantha Allen Martin Harris Chris King Richard Mannering (aka Batman) Simon Hennessey Paul Hill

Apologies for absence:   José Fernandez Brian Mills Bryan Wakefield Carole-Ann Wakefield Corinne Hennessey Terry Golding Irene Golding

Matt threw open the meeting (and his flies!)

1	Minutes of Last Meeting	Minutes were not printed out to run through but it was brought to the attention of all that we still have no Tigers! (Though it has since been pointed out that there are many Tiggers in the Styles house and Tina has a Tiger kite bought at Berck)
2	Club Funds	Yes, we have some funds. £54 of which £14 was left over from last year. We have paid for our BKF membership. Dave asked for permission to take some cash to pay for the bags that the marquee/gazebo is kept in. This was agreed. There has been some recent income from the loan of the gazebo to Chippy's family. If this is to be loaned out on a regular basis it will need a bit of TLC and the seams need a bit of attention. Simon and Paul said they would ask the BKF committee if their remaining gazebo parts from their club can be combined with ours
3	Kite Festivals, etc	Apparently we missed out on the Tonbridge Kite Festival. This was not advertised or promoted anywhere. Teston will be our next kite festival, held on 12th and 13th August. Starting as usual camping out on the Friday over to the Monday. Water toys and water bomb catapults to be taken. Can everyone look out for some cheap water bombs? On the Monday, we will go from Teston to Cub Camp to help with the Air Activities Badge. BKF have kindly offered to donate 30 kite kits to the scout group. We will not be attending Capstone. Bournemouth Kite Festival is on the same day. Simon will ask - if we are interested - if funds are available for us to do some man lifting in the arena. We need to confirm this to Simon as soon as possible. We will only do this if the weather conditions are right. Telscombe Fly-in is scheduled for 12th September. We have been invited to stay at the Hennesseys again on the 11th if we want to, and attend the fireworks display in Peacehaven. Dieppe Kite Festival takes place in September 2006. Simon and co. will be going. If we want to go there is still time to arrange. Lunen Kite Festival (just another excuse for a beer) is 1st - 3rd October. Some of our members have signed up to go with Simon and BKF. Next year, we will attend Berck, both Teston Kite Festivals and Brighton. Brighton has been confirmed as 10th and 11th July. Others to be considered as and when. We have also been asked to consider Rougham Air Field in Suffolk and Petworth.
4	Logos and T-shirts	Batman's logo was chosen and is currently only being modelled by Paul on a white T-shirt. Logo can be emailed to those that want to do their own. (Ask Dave). However, we would like to order some embroidered clothing from West Coast Embroidery. A catalogue is available. If you would like to borrow this, please let us know as soon as possible. We would like to place an order with them this week, and another one to follow before Telscombe fly-in. Batman has requested money in advance please.
5	British Kite Flying Association	Simon is our nominated representative and several emails have been exchanged regarding the Risk Assessment. Simon and Paul read out points from the Risk Assessment document. The BKFA have proposed to join the Royal Aeronautical Society. However, this seems expensive at £195, and is not something we feel the BKFA can afford. It would seem that interest in the BKFA is falling off. Not much information is being posted on their message board. It was brought up that we have not yet formally ratified our affiliation with the BKFA. Opinions on the BKFA at the meeting ranged from mild disappointment that none of the questions we have raised have been answered, to a formal proposal of withdrawal from the BKFA. We are disappointed in the lack of action taken during the first year, but it was agreed that it would be better to postpone any change in our status within the BKFA until the next meeting
6	Xmas meal	Last year it was decided that the meal was to be held in the Brighton area and this year it was to be held in our area. We had a great time last year. We would like to know if attendance would be as good if it was held this way, or maybe in the south London, Surrey or Sevenoaks area? It may be easier to move the few of us down to Brighton as it would to ask Brighton people to travel this way. Please let us know if you would like us to go ahead and sort out a venue, and how far members, that would attend, would be prepared to travel?
7	Election of officers	Matt was nominated to continue as Chairman for the next year. Dave was nominated to continue as Treasurer and Webmaster for the next year. Tina was nominated to continue as Secretary for the next year. Martin was nominated to continue as a co-opted committee member
8	Next Meeting	We plan to have one

Tina can send you proper minutes !

Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Moon Martin Harris Chris King Brian Mills

Apologies for absence:   José Fernandez Kat Styles Terry Golding Irene Golding Simon Hennessey Bryan Wakefield

Matt threw open the meeting (and his flies!)

1	Teston	The upcoming festival was vaguely mentioned.
2	Tigers	Chris still hasn't bought the tigers yet! He made some excuse about his eBay supplier (i.e. El Presidente) having sold out. As a punishment he was made to sit in the corner.
3	British Kite Flying Association	The liability question has been resolved in that should the BKFA be found to be liable, the the individual club reps are personally liable. We are NOT going to allow a club rep to accept such liability so again whilst we support the BKFA in theory, until this issue is resolved we do not wish to fully affiliate ourselves with the BKFA.
4	Next Meeting	We plan to have one

Tina can send you proper minutes !

Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Moon Martin Harris Chris King Brian Mills Richard Sutton James Dadson Sam Allen

Apologies for absence:   José Fernandez Kat Styles Terry Golding Irene Golding Simon Hennessey Bryan Wakefield

 

Matt threw open the meeting (and his flies!)

1	Membership Cards	Membership cards to be created by June for 2005/2006. Lisa will need to set up the design again as the previous artwork has been lost.
2	Subs	Our membership fees and insurance affiliation with Brighton Kite Flyers is due for renewal in July 2005. To remain at £10, if not already a BKF member. We propose a charge of £1 to everyone attending a fly-in in order to boost club funds.
3	Fly ins	Fly-ins have been provisionally booked for first Saturday and 3rd Sunday of every month from February 2005 where no other activities are happening
4	British Kite Flying Association	The national group has been set up to show a country wide support for kite flying against the councils, etc that are trying to ban our hobby following accidents. The BKFA is joined by groups, not individual members. We need it confirmed before we sign up who is liable in case of an accident. ELF do not see ourselves as responsible if someone at the other end of the country who we do not know hurts themselves and tries to get BKFA to accept liability. Whilst we support the BKFA in theory, until this issue is resolved we do not wish to fully affiliate ourselves with the BKFA. The cost per group to join is £25 per club. For us personally with only approximately 20 members it will cost us a lot more than groups with maybe 80 members.
5	Treasurer's Report	We currently have a bit of fund money left, but most of this went towards the purchase of the trailer.
6	Kite Festivals	We intend to attend the two Teston kite festivals and Brighton. We will only be going to Capstone for a fly on the Sunday A few of us will also go to Berck kite festival for one day, as last year. Also, if Tonbridge kite festival is held, we propose to attend this one, with a visit to the castle too. We propose 25th June for a bigger fly-in at Morehall Rec, Folkestone, moving on to maybe Brockhill Park for a barbecue afterwards. Details to be confirmed on the website.
7	Any Other Business	Apparently at the last meeting, Chris was going to buy some tigers. He hasn't done this yet!
8	Next Meeting	We plan to have another meeting before the first Teston kite festival to finalise arrangements for this, and any other matters that may have arisen.

Tina can send you proper minutes !

Present: Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Moon Martin Harris Chris King Brian Mills Richard Mannering

Apologies for absence: José Fernandez, James Dadson Kat Styles Terry Golding Irene Golding

1	Reason for Meeting	This meeting was proposed to discuss any problems and plans for the rest of the year and into next year.
2	Forthcoming Events	Fly-in at Ardingly BKF are going to be at Ardingly Show this Sunday (Oct 3rd). We have now decided not to join them, though they will hold a few tickets for us in case we change our minds. Christmas We are going to join Brighton Kite Flyers for a Christmas meal somewhere. It had previously been discussed as meeting somewhere in the middle. However, Tina has proposed we go to Brighton this year and BKF come to Ashford next year. This will be easier for those that want to have a drink as it will be possible to stay over at friend's houses. This will take place on Saturday 4th December. Numbers of who are free to attend are needed as soon as possible so that Simon can book somewhere.
3	Trailer	A trailer has been purchased from BKF. It is currently at the Batfarm but we are hoping to move it to Brian's garage and store most of the tents and camp stuff in it. The cost of this was £200. Any contributions will be gratefully received. However, if you feel you will benefit from the use of the trailer at kite festivals, you are expected to contribute. The amount is based on how much you can spare. Maybe some help for the cost could come from the hire of this trailer, however, it is not designed to take too heavy a weight and is probably not suitable to carry garden rubbish around as we want our kites and camp stuff to remain clean. Martin is to look at the trailer for us sometime to see if we can line it with a plastic inner or some other way. It has sharp edges currently that could snag on some of the equipment.
4	Treasurer's Report	Basically, to quote the Treasurer, "we ain't got f**k all"!! There is about £12 in the kitty. Current subs are £10 and a reduced rate of £5 for existing BKF members. We have proposed a small charge of 50p per fly-in you attend to help with the club funds. This is not compulsory. It was suggested that we use some of our funds to provide a way of roping off our area at kite festivals. We have tried poles and tape but generally the public just ignore this. Electric fences or tigers were suggested - or maybe we could have both!!! We don't think the club funds would stretch as far as buying tigers, but it was unanimously voted that Chris woulds buy some tigers. ELF now own one official club kite, a buggy, a trailer, a parachute, a BKF flag and a marquee.
5	Any Other Business	Brian is to talk to The Kent Association for the Blind again re joining us for a fly-in. They are still suggesting a date in November. We feel this is too late in the year and may be too windy. It was asked if we were going to do the Light Up The Sky fly-in as last year in October. We raised just over £20 previously. We have scheduled Saturday 16th October for this, and it will take place on Dymchurch Beach again. It was decided that a Saturday might make it easier for people to attend. Hopefully we will have more wind than last year. If we are required to show our presence at Brighton Kite Festival in the arena, we need to decide on a couple of things that we can do. People lifting can only be done if the conditions are right. Ideas please, for the next meeting. One suggestion was synchronised wind sock flying!!

We plan to have another meeting in January 2005. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please contact the committee members.

Present: Matt Sullivan (El Presidente) Tina Styles (Minutes) David Styles Lisa Moon Martin Harris Chris King Brian Mills

Apologies for absence: José Fernandez, Richard Mannering James Dadson Bryan Wakefield Kat Styles

1	Electing Officers	Dave voted that Matt be president again. This was agreed. Matt voted that Dave be webmaster and treasurer again. This was agreed. Tina was re-elected as secretary. Martin was elected as a co-opted member. Any major decisions will be made as and when required by as many members as possible, via email or phone.
2	Subs and Membership	We have two options: Option 1 - Organising our own insurance. Last year a lot fewer people than expected paid subs. With this uncertainty, and not knowing the cost of the insurance it is not possible to accurately calculate a cost for next year. However we can only estimate that it would be at least £20 per head, not including any club running costs. Option 2 - Affiliate with Brighton Kite Fliers. We are able to join as a "family membership" at a cost of £12 + £5 for each member. This will also give us discount in certain retailers. We suggest a £10 membership fee (fliers under 12 - £5) which covers the cost of insurance and gives us some spare cash in the kitty should we need it. Option 2 was agreed unanimously. Our current insurance policy expires in July, near the BKF festival weekend. We propose our new member ship be July to June. Please can money for the membership be in before the end of June, or as soon as possible. Please note that buggying, etc is not included. If you wish to have this cover, it is possible to join the British Buggying Club at a cost of £10 a year.
3	Festivals 2004	Weekend Events Teston 12/13 June Brighton 10/11 July Teston 14/15 August (Setting up help required to set up in Dave's absence) Capstone 21/22 August Bewl Water 11/12 September - Camping costs £5 per person per night	One day events Tonbridge 6 June Telscombe 12 September
4	Any Other Business	Mid Week Flying. Matt mentioned that Surface to Air Kites, a kite/buggy retailer in Folkestone, is organising weekly fly-ins every Wednesday in Hythe from 4.30 pm until dark. As another organised group, they would like us to join them. K.A.B. The Kent Association for the Blind have contacted Brian as they would like the opportunity to fly kites with us. They suggested the last weekend in November. We feel this is too late in the year. They are prepared to pay for our time, etc. Numbers can be limited to 12. Insurance will be covered by them. Brian to contact them to suggest a suitable date in September. Also, to check if they would like the opportunity of any publicity. Insurance Dave mentioned that previously we have offered on our insurance to cover anyone on their first trip out with us. This will not be the case when affiliated with Brighton. While anyone is welcome to join us at any event, it must be made clear to them that they are NOT covered by our insurance and thus they fly at their own risk. Dave has done some research and has found that most kiting clubs & societies & insurers are of the opinion that any third party liability cover offered by house contents insurance would not cover damage done to a third party by a power kite.