News Archive 2013

December 2013:

Xmas raffle raises £140 for Charity

	The Scale Section's 2013 Christmas Lunch was held at South Lawns Hotel, Milford-on-Sea, on Saturday 14th December. After a lovely meal the raffle (prizes shown left) was held in aid of Cancer Research and "SCARF" a New Forest based charity in aid of special needs children and families. Thanks to Ken Adams for these photos of the event (Click for larger images)

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Boxing Day races hit by light winds!

Despite all the recent storms the Royal Lymington Yacht Club's annual Boxing Day event at Setley Pond experienced light wind conditions. Featuring home made boats free sailed by junior helms, races are held for mono-hull and multi-hull classes. This year I noticed that there seemed to be far fewer home made "bottle boats" and many more pond yacht or converted RC yacht hulls. Technology advances!

Webmaster gets Boat for Christmas...

Your webmaster must have been a good boy last year because Santa brought him a big boat to play with! Delivered just before Christmas, "Seatern" is a 1:1 scale model of a ketch rigged 20 foot BayCruiser built by Swallow Boats in West Wales. She has had a stormy welcome to her new home on the River Itchen in Southampton! [more photos]

Autumn Newsletter available!

A special "Shelduck Edition" of the SRCMBC's Setley Sail newsletter is available from our Newsletters page.

SRCMBC 2014 Calendar - Sorry - Sold Out!

Featuring twelve photos of boats on Setley Pond taken during the past year, the "Setley Pond Calendar 20 14" opens to A3 size with plenty of space to write in your appointments etc. This is a high quality calendar - professio nally printed on 250gsm card, wire bound with stiff translucent plastic covers, front and back - and a bargain at only & #163;10 (same price as last two years - similar quality calendars in the shops cost much more). Don't be disappointed, w hen they're gone they're gone!

in Memoriam

With great regret we have to tell you that Mac Winter one of our senior members passed away on 6th October at Southampton General Hospital. Mac has been unwell for some time, but he will be remembered for his fine models of traditional fishing boats and tugs, once even posing on board one of them! Our deepest sympathy to his family at this sad time. The funeral was at the Southampton Crematorium on 18th October.

Milford-on-Sea Exhibition Update...
Club Scale Section Captain, David McNair-Taylor has announced that the Charity takings were as follows:

• Collection buckets: £285.28
• Tea and Cakes: £81.58
• Tombola: £35.00
• Total collected for charity on the day: £401.86
• In addition the RNLI took £100 on their stall.

Milford-on-Sea Exhibition a Success!
The Club Charity Exhibition in aid of the RNLI and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance held at All Saints' Church Hall, Milford on Sea on 7th September 2013 was well attended throughout most of the day. It is hoped to hold the exhibition there again next year, if possible on an earlier date in the summer [click for more photos].

Scale Captain wins the Richard Graham Trophy
The steering competition for the Richard Graham Trophy was postponed from April due to the pond still being in flood! It was held on Sunday 11th August and was won by David McNair Taylor with a clear round. With many of the 8 competitors making few faults the final positions were decided on times. Bob Eaton came second and Paul Nixon was third. [click for more photos].

Club Events: News of Important Date Changes
The Club will not be exhibiting at Lymington Lifeboat Day on 11th August, instead there will be a Steering Competition at Setley Pond on that day. There will now be an extra Club Charity Exhibition on 7th September, see the Diary Page for more details. Meanwhile... Andy Davis won the Steering Competition on 21st July and was presented with the Solent Cup (photo left). Paul Nixon was second and Dave Reith third. More photos from the event...

MV Dawnlight - Charity Auction
Dennis Jephson has contacted us... "I'm a Volunteer with MacMillan Cancer Support in Sheffield, working on Fund Raising Events for the Charity. I'm 'launching' the sale (or is it sail!) of MV Dawnlight, kindly donated by Tom Gorman to MacMillan for fund raising, as a thank you for the help and support provided to him by Macmillan. Tom's story of building Dawnlight was featured in the February 2010 issue of Marine Modelling International Magazine, and there is another article in the August edition. Thank you so much for your help in supporting this wonderful gesture by Tom" [Click on poster for details or Download pdf version (360kb)]

Try Sailing a 6m Racing Yacht!
On Wednesday 26th June 2013 there will be about six 6 metre yachts rigged for anyone wishing to try driving (i.e. racing) these large, graceful model yachts. They are measured according to the involved formula for the full-sized 6 metre class, and vary in their design, weight etc. Average keel weights are around 10kgs (+/- 1 or 2 kgs), approximately 54 inches long, built in any material.

John Cavell writes: On most Wednesdays three or four Sailing Section members meet for a sociable/easy-going 6m race morning. Anyone is welcome to join us on any Wednesday, but a telephone call ( 01590 671332 ) or email (johncavell@hotmail.com) is advisable to make sure we will be there, and with a spare yacht.

Navy Day 2013: is this summer?
23th June 2013: A strong wind, cool weather, and the threat of rain restricted activity on the pond for the 2013 Navy Day. Nevertheless the car park was busy and we had a number of very interested visitors. More photos to come!

Continuing our Naval theme: the July issue of Marine Modeller International features an article by David McNair-Taylor on his build of a Type 45 "Daring" Class air defence Destroyer HMS Dauntless. David's article was also the main cover story for the issue (see right) with a photo by your web master! More images from the HMS Daring photo shoot will be appearing on the web site soon. Well done David!

Breaking News: Divers at Setley Pond!
20th June 2013: Divers from Calshot Sub Aqua Club today recovered David McNair-Taylor's sunken warship from the pond. Hit by a sudden squall, the newly completed model had capsized on her maiden voyage on the 2nd of June. Attempts to trawl the pond having failed, permission was obtained for the dive. Despite the zero visibility under water, a finger tip search in circles around a marker buoy detected the model which was recovered intact.

There is also a new movie Setley Pond - The Story of an Industrial Landscape which illustrates the History of Setley Pond from Victorian times. Included are post World War 2 aerial photos of the pond (right) and the Setley Plain Prisoner of War Camp.

Notice: Steering Competition Postponed...
Message from the Scale Section Captain: "At a Committee Meeting at the lake today [7th April] it was decided to postpone the steering Competition scheduled for the 21st April until later in the year. This follows a Risk Assessment taking into account the high water level and limited amount of parking space, the deep water creating difficulty and risk in securing and setting up the course obstacles, the limited amount of space available for an operating area and the risk to spectators and others from the steep /slippery banks. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Spring Newsletter available
The SRCMBC Scale Section Newsletter for Spring 2013 can now be downloaded from our Newsletters page ...essential reading before the 2013 AGM - or maybe you'd just rather read about Nigel James finishing his build of "Spirit"!

Highcliffe Exhibition Success...
The Club's annual Charity Exhibition in aid of the RNLI was held in the Methodist Hall in Highcliffe on the 16th March 2013. David B Howell (Treasurer of the local RNLI Branch) writes...
"Another great show of models again this year, please extend our thanks to all those who brought their models along for what turned out to be a dry day if a wet start. Feedback from the public was great. The total amount raised for the RNLI was £704-53 a good effort and it's much appreciated." [more photos]

Highcliffe Exhibition ***This Saturday*** 16th March

The Club's major Charity Exhibition in 2013 will be in aid of the RNLI and held in the Methodist Hall in Highcliffe on the 16th March for 10am to 3pm. Free Entry, RNLI Gifts, Book and Cake stalls, Refreshments Available [Event Poster (pdf file 260kb)]

Action Stations! Solent Club Members David McNair-Taylor, Dave Reith and John Edwards who are also members of The Surface Warship Association exhibited some of their models of WW2 warships in "Action Stations", Portsmouth Historic Dockyard on week end of 9/10 March as part of the Second World War event to commemorate the 72nd Anniversary of bomb damage to boathouse 6 (now home of Action Stations) on the night of 10/11 March 1941 (the second blitz on Portsmouth). The event included a Air Raid Precaution Warden and a Home Front Display and handling tables of WW artefacts provided by "Explosions" Museum and the ability to meet and talk to WW2 characters. [more photos]

Model Shop Moves to Gosport
The Mainly Planes'n'Trains model shop which used to be in Chandlers Ford has moved to Gosport and hopes to be open from the 23rd February.

Winter Newsletter available
The SRCMBC Scale Section Newsletter for Winter 2013 can now be downloaded from our Newsletters page ...the Scale Captain learns to snorkel, Lifesaving at the Pond, Ramp Powered Lighter, building a Spirit, Titanic reaches 100,000 - read all about it!

Stormy Weather Continues...

It was a windy day on Thursday 31st January and, with the pond full, the cars huddled in what's left of the car park! If you don't believe that it is sheltered at Setley Pond, look what it was like at Hatchet Pond, just down the road!

Winter has arrived!

Sunday 20th January and, surprizingly, the pond is not frozen after snow on Friday! A few members were silly enough to attend, some of you might recognize the person waving and also the cars in the lefthand picture (not to mention the photographer). The car park remains flooded (centre) but "Archimede's Bug" was on patrol to rescue any stranded cars (right) - there are more photos of him in the Latest Photos gallery.
		But it could be colder. Here are two photos supplied by Graham Coombs of ice skating on the pond during the severe 1962/63 winter.

Will "Setley Lake" get any deeper?

The photo (above left) was taken on Thursday 3rd January 2013, the photo (centre) was taken from about the same spot in November 2011 - and the pond had not got much fuller by May 2012. The diagram (right) is a composite of the two showing the water level now and what lies beneath! More photos of the present pond are available in this album.