some people object to model aircraft being flown within half a mile of their houses due to the “noise” level.

Fair enough too. A model aircraft engine is a very annoying noise if you’re not taking an interest in the flying and it’s buzzing your house every few minutes. Reminds me of the all time classic scene from Magnum PI when Magnum was in bed with a Sunday morning hangover when Higgins starts flying his plane just outside. Suddenly Magnum appears with his shotgun amd BOOM, no more noise! I loved that very much.

What are the annual insurance fees like to fly R/C in the UK? Expensive?

My late father was an R/C modeller and he originally set up a club here in Cambridge. Eventually he ended up president of the national body, the New Zealand Model Aircraft Association for two years running in the 1970’s. But by the 1980’s he’d had enough of the price hikes that NZMAA put on to fees. It got up to something like $80 p/a, a lot of money then. So Dad broke away, went to a different insurer, and using his inside knowledge he set up the Sport Aviation Association of New Zealand (SAANZ) which didn’t bother with a fancy magazine and all the trappings, it simply insured members against accidents with R/C models. Price? $3 p/a. And NZMAA call themselves a non-profit organisation. He ran it for years, price remained the same. I see the NZMAA prices have dropped back a lot nowadays, to $48 for an adult, so maybe Dad’s work influenced them greatly. I know he had a flood of people joining from across the country. He eventually handed the whole lot to another enthusiastic chap who ran it well, then it moved to a third party and fizzled out. So, I believe SAANZ is now but history.

Dad later started another local club too, Cambridge Amalgamated Radio Modellers, which was hugely successful combining planes and choppers with boats, cars and scale (I ran the scale branch of the club). That’s a great way to set up the club if you haven’t any of the other model areas (cars, boats and scale) covered in your area. It boosts membership and you get a better range of skills and input. Rather than a committee and newsletter Dad decided on democaracy and everyone met once a month at our house for discussing happenings and having a really good time. This woirked well for years and was great fun (Dad got the nickname of Captain Mainwaring for arranging these regular get-togethers, it really was just like Dad’s Army!). When he decided to retire as President, others changed the way it worked, went to a committee and newsletter way – and it flopped badly. If you lose contact with the people,and they think the committee is doing things behind your back behind closed doors, they won’t be so keen to be involved. So I recommend you think about Dad’s method when you start the club up. Good luck.