November saw not much action at the pond with high winds and rain on most club days. During the month Peter Taylor's rain gauge in Southampton recorded about 1/4 of our typical annual rainfall in this one month alone. Here are some photos taken around Brockenhurst (just north of Setley Pond) on the 29th November. They show the "Water Splash" ford which leads to the main street, and the Lymington River in flood at Balmer Lawn (click on photos for larger version).

Lymington Lifeboat day 2009 On Sunday 2nd August the Club exhibited at the Lymington Lifeboat day (the photos are in our Club Events gallery). The Lymington day is a much smaller event than Calshot, but that gives it a more friendly atmosphere and it is good that we can display the model boats inside the Lifeboat House. We had a letter of thanks and presentation from Mac Hall (Deputy Launching Authority). The Club's donation buckets alone totalled over £200 (let alone the main collection boxes) and there is also a huge public relations gain from such a popular event.

The Richard Graham Steering Competition (Sunday, 7th June) was won by Chris Chattaway with a clear round. Second was Andrew Davis (also clear), and third was Andy Griggs (1 touch). It was definitely a course that favoured smaller boats! Here are the full results. Lorna presented Chris with his prize (a bottle of wine). Photos are available on our Club Events web page.

Vandalism at the pond! Near the end of the month the Setley Pond sign was broken down and thrown behind the bushes. Admittedly it was getting rather rotten near the base... but still?

24th May 2009 We bid a sad farewell to Ray Hellicar's much modified GT400. With a 200W brushless motor and 8 NiMH cells it was very fast but did one fast turn too many, (click on the photo for a larger view). Soon after the tragedy Ray had his GT480 out on the water!

R36R Metropolitan and Southern District Sailing Championships were held at Setley Pond on the 16th May. It was a day of strong and gusty winds which gave fast sailing and one or two mishaps!

Navy Day on the 10th of May saw good weather and an impressive collection of models. Photos are available on our Club Events web page.

SRCMBC goes to Bollywood: Following our recent break through into the Japanese fashion market (see below), the entertainment value of SRCMBC videos has now been recognised by the Indian Film Industry! The site (left, click for enlargement) is described as follows: "Bollywood Popat has today grown to become one of the most successful entertainment portal. Produced by an editorial team known for its quality, innovation and integrity, Bollywood Popat, has a readership base of over few hundred thousand to its credit. With bollywood news as well as television and regional news, it appeals to people from all walks of life across the globe. It enjoys a strong brand recognition among readers as well as advertisers" ...the SRCMBC fame continues to grow!

Breakfast on the Quay!: At the end of March "Joint Harbour Master" Peter Soffe received this message (left, click for enlargement) from one of our members. Peter's comment was that, with enough notice he would have the cafe on the quay openned for breakfast at the pond.

Here we see John's "Ernie" departing from the quay having enjoyed a "Full English Breakfast" of the kind that you can only get at those greasy English quay side cafes! Note the resulting list as the crew member moves to the port side!

An International Link: Meanwhile, Alan Bond and myself have been answering queries (using Google translate) from a Spanish modeller, "Pepe", about Alan's servo slower Hints and Tips feature for which an update is planned for the near future. Pepe sends his regards to all our club members and their "precious" models.

The club held its Annual Show in Highcliffe on Saturday, 14th March, and helped raise £738.55 for the RNLI. This included £92.50 from sales of copies of the club calendar and some historic "Sheet Anchor" magazines. There are some photographs here and a video of the event by Louis Vaisey on our Movie Gallery page. The event was well attended, our thanks to everyone who took part.

Prompted by our many views from around the world the SRCMBC site has gone mutilingual (thanks to "Google Translate"). The translation is automatic so no doubt there will be mistakes, but it will be interesting to see how much this new facility is used. Also...