SLOPING OFF...
...Christchurch and District Model Flying Club’s Magazine for April 2023
A WORD OR TWO FROM THE EDITOR
A few words on the change of emphasis and intent of our House Magazine, Sloping Off and our Newsletter, “Heads Up!”
In the distant past Sloping Off was a paper newsletter/magazine printed locally (even, in the late 90s, by Andy Slightam’s office!), edited for a long time by Trevor Hewson and delivered every three months or so to the doormats of Club members. And read by them. It had news, a calendar, kit and build reviews, some black and white photos and even a cartoon on each cover. (The picture shows a typical cover of Sloping Off before we went digital, in a pirate copy of dear old Microsoft Publisher)
In about 2011 I took over the Ed’s job and things ran pretty much as before...for a while. We already had a website which gradually built up as the place to go for everything to do with the Club and in 2013 I made the first of the online Sloping Offs, just a copy of the paper version. As time passed they swapped roles and the online one became the thing I did first, while the paper one became the copy.
As the membership gradually became at one with IT and everyone had access to a screen and an email address (last year only one member was not on the email list) we ceased the expense and labour intensity of paper, envelopes and stamps in March 2016.
The opportunities presented by digital photography and pdf reports changed the emphasis and Sloping Off became a magazine with far more reports on things that had happened rather than things to do in the future. The latter was for the website. All was well...
But then came the Club Quiz Nights, when easy questions on what was in Sloping Off in the previous 12 month drew blank looks and even the admission that “I’ve never actually seen a copy”. It was also obvious to the committee that the most basic information was not reaching the membership, stuff that the six or seven of us had discussed and took for granted simply wasn’t out there.
The Google Group was an essential tool for getting together for flying sessions but thats’s about as far as it goes. The Facebook page is fun for letting the Club know what has been flown lately, but does not reach everyone.
So we came up with the idea of a pdf newsletter distributed to all members by the email list. It will come out every 2 months or so and contain just the calendar and essential news. That’s Heads Up!
Sloping Off will stay as our magazine, but produced less often, say two or three times a year and focusing on achievements and general Club interest.
Unless anyone wants to take over and make some more changes!
Mike