Thursday November 30 saw some 46 members and family join together at Mandarin Buffet restaurant for the annual Stetsons Christmas Party.
While the numbers were down a bit, the crowd more than made up for it with enthusiasm and fun.
A big Stetson Thank You to Mandarin. Great food as always. It always makes me chuckle to see the kids go for pizza and fries, in the midst of 100 delicious buffet items!
Santa's helpers were able to provide gifts to the children again this year. We tried for Santa, but he was tied up in C of A issues on his sleigh!
Louis' folks at Air Inuit were trying to help out, but reported issues with a red nose light not meeting Transport Canada regulations. Fancy that!
Special thanks to Pierre Voyer for adding to the gifts with his hand-made toys from his 3D printers. Fantastic! The kids were delighted.
Several awards were handed out and accomplishments celebrated throughout the evening.
Many thanks to Great Hobbies and Orleans Hobbies for contributing the many door prizes. We really appreciate your continuing support.
Among the most unique was the club's participation in the Ringmaster World Flyathon, where over a dozen members and a few guests spent a weekend flying control-line Ringmasters at Stetson Field. When the dizziness subsided, the club had tallied 1011 official 5 lap flights. This total was submitted to the powers that be, and in due course, was informed that this was the WORLD RECORD Winning Score for the year! Huge congrats to all the participants!
Those members who were major contributors in flying ten or more flights included John Weekes, Charlie Colwell, Tony Garbish, Mark Winstanley, Peter Wakefield, Ricardo Vieirafilho, Brian Pepin and Xavier Mouraux. Honorable mention to well over a dozen more who came and added to the totals!
Three deserving members were inducted into the Stetsons Clapping Wings Club this season, for their demonstrated abilities to disassemble an aircraft while in flight. Pat Hennessey and Gary Robertson each managed the balsa planting feat with 100% success, while Brian Pepin made the cut for his persistent attempts with figure 9 moves!
We celebrated the fantastic service of two club members this year. Really nice souvenir plaques were created for these two gents as mementos, by our own John Jackson, of "Things Made" fame.
Peter Wakefield has acted as our Safety Officer for three years. Thank you Peter for your very significant help! Your attention to detail and the activity at the field has been much appreciated. We will miss your help!
Len Streefkerk has for years, and continues to be, our Flight School manager every Tuesday evening. His attention to detail on all fronts of the school operations and his many hours of hands-on repairs and testing are what make it all possible. We are very grateful to Len for his tireless help!
After a very difficult start to the year, we are pleased to see the enthusiasm at the club and the continuation of good times flying!
Merry Christmas to all the members and friends, and fingers crossed for a much more normal 2024 ahead!
Best Wishes,
Stetson Executive.