BHPA AGM Report 2011

It turns out that Bisham Abbey is rather a nice sports place down by the Thames at Marlow, and quite the most pleasant spot the BHPA have chosen for an AGM in ages. The meeting opened with Chairman Martin Heywood recapping the significant happenings of the year, notably the seamless move to new offices at Merus Court and the increase in landowner insurance cover to £5 million. Martin also thanked John Aldridge for his great efforts in support of the sport. John is stepping down from the Exec competitions post he has held for something like 15 years and his wise counsel will be sorely missed.

Trophies & awards
Trophies were then presented. The BHPA President‘s Trophy is normally awarded for the longest flexwing hang glider flight of the year. If this flight does not exceed the previous year‘s mark, as happened last year, the Trophy is awarded for conspicuous service to the sport. How fitting therefore that this year the trophy should go to John Aldridge; no-one in the history of the BHPA has done more to support and improve competitions.

BHPA Awards of Merit, put forward by clubs or individual members, were presented to Nikki Bodill of Accuracy comps and Andy Wallis of the Derbyshire club (details below). The Wings over a Cloud award for the best article to appear in Skywings over the year was awarded, in her absence, to Australia‘s Helen McKerral.

Election
Those present voted for four candidates from the seven listed on the voting papers. When postal votes were taken into account the following were elected to the BHPA Executive Council: Paul Dancey and Angus Langford (re-elected), Chris "Calvo" Burns and Bill Bell. Finally a vote of thanks was proposed to former MP Lembit Opik, who has been the BHPA‘s Honorary President for the past five years.

Officers‘ reports
Finance. Angus Langford presented the BHPA accounts and reported on the Association‘s financial situation. 2010 saw a loss of just over £20,000. Revenue from interest is down by about £15,000 and the Sport England grant has been reduced almost to nothing. However cost-cutting measures, lower office costs and a better deal on insurance should see a return to a modest surplus for the year 2010 - 11. The purchase of the new Leicester office has reduced BHPA reserves to £95,000, but the resulting savings are equivalent to a 5% taxfree return on the £330,000 investment, far better than could be achieved at the bank. And being sited upstairs from the BGA office offers the prospect of further economies. Angus closed his report by saying that the BHPA currently still had cash reserves equal to two months‘ running costs and was in no danger of insolvency. A member pointed out that reserves were lower than at any time in recent years. Angus explained that the insurance premium is now around half of what it had been in the past and that we are able to pay it in monthly installments; there is no need to convince the insurers that we actually have the cash.

Administration. Further to the new-office issue, Marc Asquith explained that the BHPA‘s long-term needs are better served by owning these premises. Ongoing problems at the old address and the imminent ending of our lease there, and the BGA‘s need to relocate at the same time, meant that "…all the cards came together at once. The opportunity to colocate with the BGA was too good to miss." The building, owned by a separate joint BHPA/BGA-owned company, remains as security if it is needed. On another topic, Marc was asked if the membership discount for over 60s was wise in the light of the increasing age demographic of BHPA members. Marc pointed out that the reduced fee retains members for longer. There was also the option of non-flying membership for those who had permanently quit flying - very useful for non-flying helpers, judges, competition organisers and the like who need to be insured.

Insurance. Martin Heywood apologised for the lack of a Key-Facts insurance document, which has now been remedied. He drew attentionto the increase in cover for instructors and dual pilots to £50,000 (but subject to rolling renewal so that not all pilots will immediately benefit). Our good claims history over the last ten years continues to work in our favour. The increase in landowner protection to £5m is looking rosy and proving very useful with the MOD and public landowners.

Skywings. Paul Dancey reported that the slide in the magazine‘s advertising revenue appeared to have stabilised. He had been able to make good savings in print costs resulting in more pages without increasing the headline cost.

Website. Paul is also responsible for the BHPA website. His chief improvement this year had been to improve the usability of the find-a-school/club area. The facility also now exists for clubs to upload the lat/long of their operation, which should help where the club contact lives some distance from the flying sites. Paul‘s next target will be online reporting of incidents.

Competitions. John Aldridge reported a thriving competitions scene in all disciplines. He couldn‘t remember how long he has held the Competitions post, but his proudest moment had been when the victorious 2007 Worlds British hang gliding team had presented him with their Gold medal. His farewell gift to the Association will be the BHPA Competitions Handbook, containing complete blueprints for safe running of comps, that was handed to him as a project in 1996! It was suggested from the floor that organisers from all the competition disciplines should get together to compare notes on training and improving performance. That will be something for John‘s successor to tackle. Another member made the point that British paragliding currently has two pilots in the top 20 of the WPRS. John replied that several British pilots were well up in the rankings. In fact Carl Wallbank is 3^rd in hang gliding, Russ Ogden is 9^th in paragliding and Andy Webster is 17^th in the accuracy WPRS ranking.

Sites. Steve Walsh reported that the BHPA sites fund now stands at £8,500, a figure that might be of help if a club needed to purchase a site. Several sites issues had been resolved this year including one very tricky situation in the south that appears to be heading for a favourable resolution. A member suggested exploring the possibility of seeking funding from legacies, which has proved effective with other institutions.

Paramotor Liaison. Ed Cunliffe appeared to be trapped by the public transport system, however his report noted that paramotoring membership numbers, and the number of clubs, continue to rise. Paramotor competitions are also flourishing.

FSC. Angus Pinkerton stressed a difficult year for flying, although he noted that the XC Leagues had other ideas and had enjoyed rather better weather! 2010 had been a year of low incident reporting and low fatalities; he was going to investigate whether the records might show a correlation between above-average XC weather and incidents. The Training WIngs document had been put online and made available in print, without adverts, for schools to distribute. This year the FSC will push the importance of pre-flight checks in schools and clubs, an area where "a significant number of incidents might have been avoided." Angus remarked that his experience of pilots being reluctant to check their equipment until they had had an incident was similar to his observations in his professional life as an IT security consultant. FSC is also working on a speed flying instruction syllabus, and looking for ideas from clubs to improve post-CP coaching in 2011. He recorded his thanks to the members of FSC - their work does make the sport safer. A member, concerned at FSC‘s accountability as a relatively expensive part of the BHPA‘s operations, queried the non-availability of FSC minutes. Angus accepted this point as fair criticism; he explained that they frequently contained sensitive material and could not be published. He will look into the possibility of making redacted a version available. Another member commented that the promised speed flying syllabus couldn‘t come too soon as regulation was becoming essential.

Club Liaison. John Walsh reported being stuck in traffic; no report was presented.

Officers‘ reports, including the 2009 - 2010 Financial Report, can be obtained from the BHPA Office.

New faces on Exec
Chris Burns, known to most as Calvo, has been flying for 15 years and heavily involved in competition paragliding for ten, not least as Meet Director at the British Championships. For the last five years he has represented British paragliding interests at CIVL. He has accepted the role of BHPA Competitions Officer.

Bill Bell is a longtime hang glider pilot and secretary of the Hang Gliding Competitions Panel. A former Airwave dealer, he will support Calvo as deputy Competitons Officer on the BHPA Exec.

Exec changes
John Lawson has taken on the role of BHPA Vice-Chairman to assist Martin Heywood. Brett Janaway will take over External Representation. Ed Cunliffe has been co-opted as informal (non-Executive) paramotor representative.

The Wings Over A Cloud award
This is awarded for the best feature article to appear in Skywings each year, decided by former Skywings Committee Chairman Mark Woodhams using criteria of originality, quality of writing, depth and scope, and supporting pictures and graphics.

This year the award goes to Australian writer Helen McKerral, whose twopart Let Nothing Stop You ran in December 2009 and January 2010. Mark described it as as an important contribution to safety and the enjoyment of free flight: "It is the sanest and most helpful advice to pilots who don't consider themselves to be sky gods that I have ever read."

The runner-up was Jim Mallinson‘s Five Returns To Manali (May 2010). Mark wrote, "…every so often a story blasts out of the pages which is so awesome that it is difficult to ignore. Just such a story is Jim Mallinson‘s."

Third place went to Nev Almond‘s Purbeck Coastal Run (November 2009), which Mark described as "…a thoughtful, analytical and hyperbole-free description of flying… a very good example of words and pictures in harmony."

Also worthy of mention were Fiona Macaskill‘s Masters of the Air (May), Rob Dowdell‘s Decisions, decisions (May), and Trip to the coast and The 21-year dream by XC hound Tim Pentreath (October/November).

Mark also noted the contribution of those BHPA members who provide the regular monthly pages such as Hang Points, Comp Lines and the glider reviews. "Their work represents over half of the magazine's content," he writes, "and is consistently written to a very high standard."

BHPA Merit Awards
BHPA Awards of Merit are nominated by clubs or individual members, usually to recognise someone whose behind-the-scenes service to the free flying movement has been both significant and long term.

Andy Wallis has been flying hang gliders since 1985 and paragliders since 1992, amassing over 4,000 hours. He has competed at national and international level and represented the UK.

He has also made a huge contribution at club level. His efforts to improve the skills of up-and-coming pilots and his altruistic approach have made him a popular and respected member of the flying community. Andy is safe, knowledgable, humble and approachable, and tireless in his efforts to help other pilots.

Nikki Bodill. Involved with accuracy judging since the late nineties, Nikki worked her way up to become chief judge at the Classic Accuracy Nationals. Her work was acknowledged with the Nigel Legg Trophy in 2001.

Since then she has been Chief Judge at most UK accuracy events, judged at numerous overseas competitions including the 2008 Europeans and the 2009 World Air Games. She will be the Chief Judge at the 2011 World Paragliding Accuracy Championships and has run numerous judging training camps.

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