On behalf of the Committee of the Melbourne Gliding Club, I am pleased to announce to you that the club has purchased a new bus to replace our existing pie cart.

Thanks to John Parncutt, we were able to secure a new bus at a very reasonable price. John, along with Alan Payne, and others, will now lead the fit-out of the new bus to meet our needs. The bus is being delivered this Friday with work to start straight away.

It is a timely purchase, as the old bus (having being our pie cart for 30+ years) becomes more difficult to operate, the hydraulics for the entry ramp fail, and rust begins to damage the structural integrity of the bus. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those who have kept the current bus going in recent years. For example, Steve Trone has installed solar panels and new switches to keep the electronics going etc. Most of these improvements will be readily transferable to our new bus.

To be involved in the fit-out of the new bus or to suggest ideas and user requirements, please contact John Parncutt (jparncut@bigpond.net.au) or Alan Payne (janusc@ozemail.com.au) directly.

This represents a significant investment in the future of our club and every member of the club enjoys the benefits that having a pie cart brings. In order to fund this investment, the Committee has created the Melbourne Gliding Club Asset and Equipment Fund. To cover the cost of purchase and fit-out, all active flying members will make a contribution of $50 per annum over the next three years to raise the necessary funds. This will be payable at the time of membership renewal, and will apply for membership renewals effective 1 January 2017 for three years until 31 December 2019.

On other matters, leadership from the three gliding clubs, along with the Australian Gliding Museum, VSA and GFA, met on 24 July to discuss the ongoing aerodrome issues and how we can work together more effectively to promote Bacchus Marsh as the pre-eminent gliding destination in Victoria.

Significantly, the three clubs agreed to the creation of a 12-month trial Bacchus Marsh Gliding Club Development Fund to promote the combined gliding activities of the three clubs, particularly in the local community. Examples of how this funding will be spent is on donations of AEF glider flights for school raffles or trivia nights, replacing gliding club signage around the airfield (e.g. on the main road), attendance at local festivals and events. Each club will be donating $20 per active flying member to the Fund. For the MGC, we will be applying this $20 to invoices over the next few months (around November/December). At the end of 12 months (September 2017), the presidents of the three clubs will evaluate the effectiveness of the Fund and make a determination of whether to continue the Fund and under what conditions.  

This represents a newfound spirit of cooperation between the three clubs and we encourage all gliding people at Bacchus Marsh to seek out how they can be involved in these activities. In advance, we thank you for your donation to this important project.