alanrichey

When I was thinking of volunteering to be the Club Membership Secretary, I initially did not know what was involved and had to talk to my predecessor.  As a result, I thought it might be useful to produce some Terms of Reference for the Club Committee Members and Area Secretaries so that any future volunteers could get an idea of what was involved and the time required.   So a copy of the TORs is attached.  Hope you find them useful.

TERMS OF REFERENCE.pdf

Credit goes to Nigel Duncan for suggesting it

Another good day.   Just about 45 min drive for me, first outing of the year for my padded jacket.    We all went a bit early in case there was a queue and the small car park was full.   Needn't have worried, only one other car beside us

Had an extremely good (and free) tour of the RAF Digby museum.  It actually lasted for 2:30hrs.  The station was one of the sector HQ for 12 Group during World War II (The South of England was 11 Group so they got most of tthe action during the Battle of Britain) so we got to see the actual operations room where it was all controlled.  Even though I spent 37 years in the RAF I still found it very informative and interesting.  Highly recommended.

That probably knocks it on the head for September, so our next meet will be the Corby Glen Sheep Fair on 9th October (https://www.sheepfair.co.uk/).  

See you there

Time to squeeze another meet in before we meet up at the Corby Glen Sheep Fair (9th October).   As promised we will do this one on a Sunday (25th Sept) to cater for the workers

Plan is to go to the RAF Digby Museum, just South East of Lincoln (LN4 3LH) and join the conducted tour at 11:00.  If any non-East of England wants to join us just let me know.    There are no refreshments on site so bring your own lunch (and chair)

Nice day out.   An absolutely perfect day for driving, sun out, dry and just enough of a chill in the air to bring out the best in our engines.  Enough cars turned up to make it interesting while still leaving room to park.   We even managed 5 Robin Hoods   And the cake was as good as ever.

A nice day out and a decent run for three of us.   Just over 100 mile round trip for me, which I find perfect.  Airfield was a bit quieter than usual, no sign of the Spitfire we normally see.   Summer has definitly gone away though, a bit of a chill in the air.

A bit of a disappointing turnout at the End-of-Season Bash last weekend although all the participants had a good time.   But in the East we don't have a season, we operate all year round

So, seeing as the weather next week has suddenly come good, we are going to have a picnic at one of our favourite meeting places.   Sywell Aerodrome in Nottinghamshire (NN6 0BN).    A large free car park, a cafe if you don't want to self-cater, a museum, a static aircraft display and also a nice view of the operations on the airfileld.

All welcome, 12:00 on Tuesday 13th Sept, bring a chair, or a rug.

And don't forget the GBS Coffee & Cake on Sat 17th, weather lookin OK at this stage.

Unfortunately August wasn't one of our better months.   Of the 29 members whose subscription expired, only a disappointing 17 renewed.   On the positive side we picked up 8 new members and one who came back after a couple of years away.  So overall we dropped by 3 to 384.   Let's hope September improves the situation.

So here are the new members, following the same format as last month, with their forum username and location area with their actual first name in brackets if it isn't obvious.

Freeland (Nigel)                             North Lincolnshire
martmart (Martin)                          West Midlands    
Stonky 62 (Steve)                          South Central
Paul Dean                                       West Midlands
Anish Vaghela                                Leicestershire    
Rallycol (Colin)                               North West
benpkader (Ben)                           North West
Bob D                                              Leicestershire
Jj autos (Martin)                            South East

Although I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall, I would again encourage all the Commuinty Users reading this to seriously consider becoming full members.   Apart from helping to keep the Club running, the benefits (Insurance discount, Europarts discount, access to the Club stand at shows...) save you more than the cost of membership.

Al (Membership Secretary)

Not the best turnout I have had at the show, but a very pleasant day anyway. and our Club area is just about perfect, next to the river.   Weather was just lovely, lots of special cars to see, and a final display by the BBMF Lancaster to round it off.    Book early for next year

Thanks

Can someone remind me exactly where the entrance to the field is located ?

I used these people:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FAUX-LEATHER-VINYL-UPHOLSTERY-LEATHERETTE-FABRIC-MATERIAL-1-METRE-TO-5-METRE-/231853545675?var=&hash=item35fb8c58cb:m:mOurfdvS3dbSH21wU43ZKmA

It's not foam backed but I didn't want that on my dash.  I needed it on the centre console so I could rest my elbow    So I just bought a foam offcut from my local market.

I'll have that as well.  It's about the only thing I don't have a spare.   EOSB again.

I see the Show is now full so if you wanted to go and haven't registered you are too late.    But there is nothing stopping you booking for next year

Working hard on the weather but quietly confident.

Al

PM Sent

7 hours ago, Jtox said:

.....do we as a group of robinhood gbs zero lovers ever arrange to attended any car shows classic or others as a club to see if we can get new members interested in joining g the forum or local area meets 

Hi.  We attend 3 national events at the moment as a full Club, these are Stoneleigh, Newark and the End of Season Bash (EOSB).   When it comes to other shows we ask the appropriate Area Secretary to publicise them on the forum, then find out how many people would like to go, and if the number is high enough, to liase with the organisers for a special area to be set aside for them.   If it is only a few I normally nominate a meeting point close to the Show so we can all arrive together.  However, that pre-supposes the Area Secretary knows the show is taking place, which he may not.    So under these circumstances like this please make sure you notify your Area Secretary of the details of the Show so that he can arrange everything.   Even if it is after the event, still contact him so he can be ready for it next year. 

Al

See this  https://www.rhocar.org/index.php?/forums/topic/50377-original-robin-hood-badges/#comment-410042u

the new owner might sell you one.

It’s been almost two weeks since I posted our revised Area Secretary System and reaction so far has been positive.   The really good news is that we now have volunteers to take over the previously unfilled posts.  My thanks to all of them for stepping up to help.

There have been two slight changes to the system.  First we have now included Northern Ireland as an area for the first time.  Secondly, when we ran the numbers we found that the Central Midlands had a disproportionally large number of members compared with the other areas (maybe because that is the original home of Robin Hood Engineering?).   So we have decided to spin off Leicestershire as a separate area to even up the numbers.  Luckily we also have a volunteer to take that on as well, so my thanks to him.

So the map now looks like this:

The borders between areas are meant to be flexible, but the initial allocation is based on counties.   So if you want to know which area you are in, use the following breakdown (feel free to go elsewhere if you think it is more logical). The table includes the full list of Area Secretaries, with their forum username:

COMMUNITY USERS       

I will be confirming with all new and current members which area where they are initially registered, but it is up to all the Community Users who wish to be involved to contact their Area Secretaries so they can be put on their distribution list. 

So we have setup the structure; it is up to ALL of you to make it work.

Al   (Membership Secretary)

Mine are very keen on the emissions test.   I have to regularly remind them that my car MUST be bought up to operating temperature and left like that for a couple of minutes before they take the readings.    This time they got a bit over-enthusiastic and ran her up to such a high temperature she blew off her lower cooling hose and filled their inspection pit with boiling water/antifreeze.   Serves them right

I also learned something else about MOT tests.   In previous tests they have damaged my sump getting it onto the rollers, on one occasion ripping off the sum rguard I have fitted.  In discussion with my mechanic (an ex-MOT tester), he mentioned that if they can't get the car on the rollers because of the low ground clearance then they can do an alternative brake check called a 'tap test'.  Apparently they put a gadget called a Tapley deccelerometer into the car, drive around the block and test the deceleration produced by the brakes.   So I asked them to do that instead of the roller check and the brakes passed    This may have been common knowledge but I had never heard of it.'

Al

Yes, all the Superspecs came with a cat otherwise you didn't stand a chance of passing the HC test.   Also, I recently fitted a new lambda sensor as the one I had was getting very old, so I credit that with the good CO reading.   Superspecs have all struggled with the emissions test and since I started using my laptop to check the other Superspecs in the Club I have yet to find one that actually had a working sensor.   The sensor supplied with the kit had a life of about 2 weeks , some hadn't been wired up correctly, none of them used a screened cable to carry the signal and some were mounted facing downwards encouraging water to ingress.   It's taken me 8 years to figure it all out but I have now passed 3 emissions tests in a row,   Happy days.

1 hour ago, Stonky 62 said:

The car went through the IVA in 2003 and the emissions is stated on the V5 as CO 4.5 & HC 0.12.

Interesting, they must have changed the units, mine was SVAd in 2008 and it states CO 0.2% & HC 200ppm.    I had it MOTd yesterday and she managed CO 0.096  and HC of 91.   A nice pass.

A reminder that the Show is getting closer. (28th August)  I see from the show page that there are still a few spaces left, so if you want to go, now is the time to register.

For those who have registered or received an invitation you can now print your joining instructions that need to be displayed on entry.

Still working on the weather.

July was a good month for the Club Membership.  It was good to see 17 existing members renew their membership and continue to support the Club.   Even better news is that we had only 3 members who failed to renew.   And we also had 3 members who returned to the fold after some years away.   Welcome back.

Unusually we welcomed 14 new members.  I know it’s the summer when everyone gets their cars out and interest peaks, but I still think that is a healthy number.  So overall the membership has gone up to 387.

As usual it is disappointing to me how many forum users remain as Community Users rather than Members, even though the discount on their insurance policies (an average of 15% according to Adrian Flux) would more than cover the subscription fee.  So come on everyone, if you find the forum useful then please help support the Club.

So we welcome the following new members.  I’ve changed the form slightly to give their forum Usernames and county. If the username is rather obscure then I’ve added their first name in brackets:

Paul Johnson                          Sussex

Robert Taylor                         Lincolnshire

Mrcaptainc (Christopher)      Staffordshire

Andy Brown1                         North Lincolnshire

Rachael Hinckley                  Surrey 

Gareth                                    County Durham

Liam672                                 Kent

Jtox (John)                            Yorkshire

Daveo (David)                       Yorkshire

Dave A                                   South Lincolnshire

Paul Andrews                       Nottinghamshire

Matthew Stevens                  Cambridgeshire

Kenneth Southam                Staffordshire

Gavin Mcfarlane                  Norfolk

Let’s hope we can maintain the momentum in August.

Sorry, I will have to cry off, last minute change in family plans.   Hope everyone has a good time.

Cheers

Al

Sorry Jonty. another member local to Boston passed it to me and I put the wrong contact name in, should have been "contact Russell Flemming".

If anyone does contact you please pass it on.

Al