It is with great sadness that Basingstoke Model Aero Club announces a vacancy. The untimely and sudden passing of club member Bill Tarn has left a hole in the heart of the club. The successful applicant must have a wicked and mischievous sense of humour, be a valued club member, and friend to all.
You would support our club and give ongoing assistance to ensure that events are a success, Bill often arrived much earlier than everyone else to ensure the runway is mowed and be the last to leave when the clearing up has finished. On the subject of mowing, you would need to volunteer to mow the grass on a regular basis and look after the mower. Bill develop finely honed diplomatic skills to deal with complainers, colourful language skills will be required here.
Serving on the committee and acting as safety officer would also stand you in good stead. Some say the safest thing Bill did as safety officer was to resign as safety officer, others simply don’t understand that crashing is part of the hobby. Those that can’t crash 6 models in 5 days need not apply! Ever determined, Bill's strength of character meant he was soon back flying again after these disastrous few days. Could you?
Any good at cooking? You would be expected to shout "BURGERS!" on Sunday lunchtimes, something else Bill used to do was organise and cook our weekly club barbeque. No shirking here, many hungry mouths to feed.
Anyone wishing to apply for this role must also be able to tune a Nitro engine with such precision that it will always cut out halfway through your flight. Bill eventually surprised us all and `went veggie`. This new electric approach gave Bill's flying a new lease of life and a very wide grin and changed his landing call from "Dead stick" to "Making contact with the ground". It is only fair to warn you that you would also be expected to dabble in `the dark arts`, almost as shocking as this sad news, were rumours of Bill's decision to buy and fly helicopters. Bill spent hours practicing at work during the night shifts and added a heli A to his fixed wing achievement.
Those that can, teach… Bill was always happy to pass on his knowledge to others as a club instructor and coach a number of pilots through their A cert, another selfless act you would be expected to carry out. Like Bill, you might even be kind enough to take control of a thermal glider while the pilot went to make a cup of tea. Lovely glider it was, 20 years old and going strong. That was until it was 20 years and 2 minutes old... At least Bill was kind enough to help pick the pieces up!
Would you take up arms and fly `Zaggi combat`? Bill did. Whilst on a local hill, Bill was concentrating on chasing someone down and getting that killer blow. He turned to our club chairman and said "Who's that idiot who crashed over there" To which the reply came "Err, that's you Bill!"
The candidate would also have to be generous to a fault, Bill was someone who truly thought of others before himself. If you applied for the role of `Bill`, could you fill his shoes? Some shoes are just too big to be filled.
Our thoughts are with his wife and family, we'll miss you mate.
