Bob Deeley

We have received the very sad news that Bob Deeley, one of our long standing members passed away on Friday 18th January following a long period ill health.

Bob was a respected and greatly liked club member noted for his mischievous and wicked sense of humour. Over the years he served the branch well, at various times fulfilling the roles of Chairman and Competition Secretary.

Bob's funeral will be on Monday 4th February at 11.30 a.m. at Lodge Hill Cemetary, Selly Oak/Weoley Castle.



Meanwhile our condolences go to to his wife Sandra, family and friends.

January Meeting Cancelled

Owing to the current weather conditions and a forecast of further snowfall it has been decided to cancel tomorrow's meeting (Sunday 20th January).

Consideration was given to rescheduling the meeing but as the outlook for the coming week is for more snow we felt that the best option was to re-convene at the February meeting.

Happy New Year

Website Update

For the new year the website has been undergoing a tidy up, with the contents of several pages being consolidated into one: -
 "About IPMS Birmingham" page bringing together information about our meetings, the club committee and contacts, venue, annual subscriptions etc. all into one place for for potential new members. There are also two new pages - "2013 Diary" with dates for club meetings, model shows and any other events likely to be of interest to members. And  "Monthly Competition" with information about the monthly branch competitions.

December Meeting/Christmas Party and Branch Championship.

Steve Newton receives his award from Pete Betteridge

Congratulations to Steve Newton whose model was voted the winner of the senior Branch Championship for 2012 at the December meeting.

For the first time in some years we also had a Junior Branch Champion, congratulations to Izaac Peat.

Steve Adams accepting his father's award.

The annual Clubman of the Year trophy was awarded posthumously to Ron Adams  who passed away in August 2012, in recognition of his many years of service and contributions to the club. Ron's wife Doreen and sons were at the meeting and the certificate was accepted by Steve Adams on behalf of his late father.







The Christmas Party would not be complete without the time honoured Hospice Trophy draw and members formed an orderly (almost) queue to pay for their "Lucky" dip in the sack of gift wrapped kits scrutinised by the Chairman and Treasurer.

Some people even had more than one go!
Mike Gossage examines his winnings from the bag, both French subjects, an Airfix 1/72 scale Fouger Magister and a Testors 1/48 scale Nieuport 17.










Of course it's all in aid of a good cause, Acorns Children's Hospice and the sum of £162  was  raised at the meeting which will be supplemented in February when the fines for uncompleted kits are due.

January Meeting

The first meeting of the new year will be on Sunday 20th January when the competition theme will be USA.. Members are reminded that annual subscriptions are due for seniors (Junior membership is FREE).

Subscriptions are £20.00 yearly payable at the January meeting (or earliest thereafter for those unable to attend in January). They cover hire of the room from Birmingham City Council (Currently £350 per annum) plus you get free tea/coffee at the meetings. This makes it £2.00 per meeting if you attend ten during the year (less than a Starbucks coffee even without the overpriced bun or muffin they will try to sell you). For new members and potential new members, we don't feel that it would be fair to ask you to ask you to pay up on your first visit and we allow people a chance to get to know us before they decide if they want to commit themselves to joining, but once you have been to a couple of meetings we do ask you to contribute to the finances - those joining half way through the year usually pay £10.00.

December Meeting; Christmas party and Branch Championship.

 Karl Robinson receiving the Jaguar Trophy 2011.

The club's December meeting will be on Sunday 16th and as in previous years there will be the Christmas  Party when we welcome family members to share in the festivities with club members contributing food for a buffet. The meeting is largely an informal affair although we do have the presentation of trophies - this year we have a new set to replace the ageing ones that have long since seen their best days.The Branch Champion is voted for by the members from the winning entries of the monthly competitions.



Terry Walton has prepared a quiz for anyone attending the party to participate in (Except those us who have had prior sight of it and would have an unfair advantage) - there are no prizes it's just for fun.

A regular feature of the Christmas meeting is the Hospice Trophy Draw, members contribute unwanted kits from their collection, gift-wrapped, which then go into as sack and are drawn out on a lucky dip basis with a payment of £3 per kit. The kit should then be built by the February meeting using only the contents of the box/package plus glue and paint (No after-market add-ons or decals allowed). If it isn't finished by the February meeting then an additional £2 is payable with all the proceeds going to the Acorns Children's Hospice.




A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our fellow IPMS (UK) and international branches and their members, with special greeting's to our friends at IPMS Syracuse.

Sutton Coldfield Show and Droitwich Salt Festival.

During September the club had displays at the Sutton Coldfield Model Makers show and Droitwich Salt Festival.

Sutton Coldfield Show.

To see more photographs of the Sutton Coldfield Show please go to the album on the IPMS Birmingham Facebook page.

Droitwich Salt Festival.

David Child 'Takes the salute' on the club stand

 

This year was our forth year as guests of the Forever Forties Group, displaying at Droitwich. It is always a good day and gives us the chance to meet the general public and promote the hobby.

















In addition to our stand there was also the Droiwich and District Model Boat Club with some impressive radio controlled ships.














As in previous years there was a contingent of Roman re-enactors who this year decided that adding a Bren Gun to the Imperial Arsenal would be a good idea - as if the Romans needed any help conquering the, then known, world!



For more photos of Droitwich Salt Festival see the album on IPMS Birmingham's Facebook Page.

Future events.

Apart from the club meeting on 21st October we have no other comitments for October but in November there is, of course, Scale ModelWorld on the weekend of 10th & 11th at The Telford International Centre, Shropshire.

We will be attending Bugle Call 2012 (Subject to confirmation) on Sunday 25th Nov. at The Pavillions, Bath.

Ron Adams

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death, earlier today, of one of our oldest and staunchest members, Ron Adams.

Ron was also an early member of IPMS (UK) his membership number being 167. But above all he was greatly liked and respected gentleman and we are the poorer for his passing. He had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour but non-the-less showed great spirit and determination to carry on with his life and live it to the full.

Our condolences go to Ron's wife Doreen and their family.

Midland Expo 2013

The date for Midland Expo 2013 has been announced, Sunday

28th July 2013 at Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre and Golf Course, Alcester Road South, Kings Heath, Birmignham. 

B14 6ER.

This a change from our traditional date of the mid-May weekend and an explanation of the reasons behind the move can be found on the Midland Expo website.



Midland Expo 2013 Poster

Print a copy of this poster (PDF file from Google Drive).