So today was a sad day in the short life of the Valley Brook RC Club.....our landlord notified us that they will not be allowing us to use their property after 2017.

http://www.valleybrookrc.webs.com/

What brought us to this point you say.....noise, neighbors, liability, etc., etc., etc.,??

Bottom line....the lack of membership support in terms of time and dollars.

Club started in 2010 after membership of a previous club disbanded due to a field loss - landlord passed away and the heir kicked us out.

Key club member had contacts within an organization that were utilized to acquire the right to fly at a new site.

New landlord spent big $ getting a road, parking lot and field ready to fly.....at no cost to Club. Also provided a Porta-John and ISO box truck for our use at no cost to the Club.

First few years everything fine, decent membership size (20-25) but treasury kind of skimpy due to low dues - $30. Fortunately club had old mowers to cut the grass and a few members willing to commit time/effort to cut

But no matter what Club Officers tried, including free meals at club flying events, most members rarely participated....so field use declined.

Even worse, 'newbie' members expected field to always be ready to go....one even called a volunteer up and chewed him out for field condition. "I pay my $30 dues and I expect the field to be mowed and ready to go when I come to fly," were his exact words.

Well after that incident mowing volunteers decided they would no longer bear the brunt of work required to keep the field up so this year the field has been mostly unkempt.

Landlord took notice of the field conditions, and the fact that fewer folks were using the field, and decided that they'd had enough, especially when it was their money keeping some of our amenities going.....thus today's notice..

The hobby will end up losing what is a good field - 950 feet long by 100 feet wide - but what could have been a great field for all kind of aircraft, jets, giant scale, gliding, etc., if only we had had stronger member involvement and support.

Just don't understand what people want/expect these days.....very sad, very sad

That is sad to hear. Sorry for the loss of your field. I totally understand about lack of participation. Fortunately our participation is on the rise at our club. It is nice to see new faces when I get the chance to go fly.

Wow, so sad. It's been my unscientific observation at many clubs I've been a member of that only about 20% fly on a regular basis. When needs arise, the actual fliers (active members) are left to do everything to make the club run. I hate it. Two or three flying each week does not make a happy, social atmosphere for me nor does it leave many to share the load.

Today, our club has 40 members, 6 years ago we had 49 (most ever), we lost a few from moving out of the area, we lost a few due to disability, plus we lost a few to loss of interest.
Out of the 40 members, we have 10 that signed up to be on the rotating mowing list.
Out of the 40 members, 10 to 15 actively attend the club meetings.
Out of the 40 members, approx. 15 to 20 are mostly active pilots.
One plus for us is we have a couple of officers and mowing crew, and actively attend meeting that are for the most part NOT active pilots.
When we have maintenance day, we have a pretty decent turnout, 20 to 25 members.
I am club president, I am 58 years old, there are only 3 members younger than me.
Our club is pretty much centralized between several very large retirement communities.
In the last 20 years we have somewhat high turnover rate, mostly by retired members, about half come from those retirement communities where they come to learn to fly and become the most active members for a few years.
Even though we have older members, we do not have that FOG mentality as a club, as I stress at every meeting (not that I have to) that I and the club officers want our club to be a fun place to come to whether you fly or not.....and it is.
But it is a little disconcerting when the LHS, that is still stocking a fair amount of RC, aircraft, trucks and boats, find that (recently) the hottest item on their sales receipts are Frisbee golf items.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your club field, happens all to often nowadays for multiple reasons/
AND sometimes all it takes is a few exodus from a few active members for the door to close.
Club fields are hard to come by, and if you DO have a nice facility, do all you can to keep it.....new RC hobbiests, do not necessarily need to join a club or a field to fly as the hottest ticket in RC (for the time being) is MR/FPV.
Trying to attract new RC hobbiests that may need or want to join a club with a flying field is now, and for the foreseeable future, the most challenging issue we face.

Do hate to hear it and even worse....it's becoming to regular. Good luck on a new field

After reading this,I guess I will mow our field tomorrow.Was going to let someone else do it but chances are that won't happen.Just me and the club president have been mowing on a regular bases. But it is just the pres. and I that fly,so you can't expect to much more.
We are so close to being next!And it is one of the best fields in the area.

Afraid to say it but the hobby is well on the decline, drones are the new Flyinggiant and it make sense they are cheap easy to get going .

Does your club have a rule about kids on the flight line?

Alas, most clubs do. Hard to get kids interested if they can't participate. I know, I know, liability and all that, but when the Boomers die off, who's going to back-fill the hobby?

Model airplanes and Lionel trains were fascinating to me as a 10-year old. Ask the next person you talk to that is under 14 which they like. The answer will be something like what app is that.

Our 350 member club looses it's lease at the end of the year.

Originally Posted by Instructor

Does your club have a rule about kids on the flight line?

Alas, most clubs do. Hard to get kids interested if they can't participate. I know, I know, liability and all that, but when the Boomers die off, who's going to back-fill the hobby?

Model airplanes and Lionel trains were fascinating to me as a 10-year old. Ask the next person you talk to that is under 14 which they like. The answer will be something like what app is that.

No such rule was in place....

Early on we actually held an open house for our landlords' employees and their families and had a couple of members provide 'stick' time with young children via a buddy box setup.

We thought that this was a great way to show our appreciation to the landlord and also hoped to attract potential new members.

Although it was a big hit with all those who attended no additional members resulted from it

We had the Girl and the Boy Scouts along with their fathers out for one day of flying.I was one of the three pilots that had a buddy box and trainer plane set up.I was amazed how well they were at flying,But no one joined up,it was one of the best times I had out there.

We had the same problem...no one wanted to mow. Not many came to the meetings...and we had a bunch of older guys who didn't/couldn't fly anymore swinging the votes on issues that pretty much ruined our club.

Nothing new........10% of a club (at best) bears all the work and organization. Its that way across the board in almost every sport.....RC planes/cars/boats, Guns, Golf leagues etc etc.

But today's entitled youth I think are bringing that down to the 2-5%

Originally Posted by closetguy

After reading this,I guess I will mow our field tomorrow.Was going to let someone else do it but chances are that won't happen.Just me and the club president have been mowing on a regular bases. But it is just the pres. and I that fly,so you can't expect to much more.
We are so close to being next!And it is one of the best fields in the area.

An exact carbon copy of our situation! Used to be ten or more flyer's at a given time, now we are down to two active participants and we both cut the grass. We are also subject to losing our field at any given time, we just pray that doesn't happen. We had a guy stop by with his two young boys to watch us fly recently, ages 9 and 15. They both played games on their phones the whole time they were there!

Your dues were $30 .00 a year!! That's $2.50 a month and some clown chews out another member. You can't go to MICKEY D"S for that!!!

Guys pay lots of money for there planes but don't want to pay decent dues to cover expenses for a good field.

You had 20 to 25 guys @ $30.00 each = $750. I'd be writing the landlord a check for a lot more than that to keep them happy and bring in a paid service to mow the field. You would have your own flying field. I have been in clubs that the dues are $200 to $250 a year plus a fee to join. get 3 guys!!

Sorry, I don't understand why guys are so cheap when it comes to having a place to fly and what sounds like a get field!!