The National Centre – another year behind us!
It seems almost impossible that not only has another year slipped behind us but also, we are close to completing our nineth year at the Centre, time has flown by.
Overall, 2025 was another very successful year for the Centre, and each year sees us increase the range of activities we support, both in terms of model flying events, and also commercial activity, which significantly adds to the overall income stream, and helps to keep the Centre financially viable.
At the recent Society AGM, it was pleasing that the financial report showed the Centre as making a reasonable surplus for the last financial year which can be re-invested into further improving the facilities. The Auctions and of course the Flyer’ Café also played an important part in the overall finances, as did the commercial bookings we were able to accommodate, notably the IMechE UAS Challenge, the IFEDA Fire Extinguisher courses and more recently a booking for the Army when we hosted a regiment of the Queens Own Gurkhas for ten days.
During 2025 the Centre attracted more visitors and, importantly more new visitors than in any previous year which is of course great news, we also hosted the Control Line Nationals and the Silent Flight Nationals, as well as several of the individual discipline Nationals, great use of the National Centre and an important resource given the ongoing difficulty in accessing military airfields.
Looking forward, 2026 is set to be even busier, with the Scale World Champs taking place in early July, plus a number of new events throughout the season, as well as all the regular favourites such as swapmeets and Fly-ins.
The Introduction to Aerobatics days (first Wednesday of each month) continue to be very popular and are a great way to improve the accuracy of your flying, booking information is on the poster.
Also for 2026, by popular request we have added some additional dates for the Buckminster Power Strugglers, vintage RC, RC assist and Free Flight, relaxed flying with a great (and growing) group.
New for this year you will see we are hosting a Mayfly event with the ladies and gents from the Model Air group following the difficulties with accessing Old Warden, should be a great event and very positive to bring the concept to the National Centre.
On a similar theme we are hosting our first Retro and Classic Fly-in, two days of flying fun with RC designs from the 70s, 80, and 90s, dig out your model flying “back catalogue” and join us in late June for what promises to be a great event.
As always, the best place to find out more is here on the National Centre website which features the full year calendar for your planning as well as the daily site status to assist your short term planning (the Site Status button provides the detail of each day and essentially which areas are available and which are not, Site Status is an aide to planning your visit).
You will also find posters and booking information for all the larger events as well as news bulletins and updates to keep you informed.
Pricing
The end of the year is not only when we piece together the jigsaw that is the annual calendar of events but also review the pricing structure for the coming year.
For 2026 we are pleased to announce the decision has been taken to hold all pricing for model flying events to the 2025 prices (i.e. no increase, and actually these are still the 2024 prices), commercial bookings will see an inflationary increase in pricing, the aim remains to provide a cost-effective facility for all BMFA Members to enjoy.
The season ticket price for the Centre will also be held at the current rate, and it remains a positive way to support the Centre and access some great events at no additional cost as well as the opportunity to just turn up and fly (subject to site status).
Of course, camping represents a significant part of the attraction at the Centre, and the ability to attend a model flying event for a few days and stay on site has proven to be a popular aspect of the overall activity. We have several members who book an annual week or two for their main holiday and tie it in with an event, followed by a few days relaxed flying and sight-seeing in the local area.
In terms of the campsite the big news is the creation of a new shower block which is currently the primary project of the Volunteer Team, this will see a significant upgrade to the campsite facilities, the team are busy manufacturing pre-fabricated panels with the aim of assembly in the spring.
The Flyers’ Café
One of the more recent success stories at the Centre is the Café which opened for business two years ago, this has now become an established and valued aspect of the National Centre and also provides an additional income stream.
The Café is very much a team effort and has been led by Gillian Hartley who has now taken the decision to retire (Gillian actually came out of retirement to be involved with the Café project), of course we wish Gillian well for the future.
This means that we will be recruiting new team members to the Café for the coming (busy) year, possibly up to three additional staff to support the increasing number of events in the calendar.
Do get in touch if you know anyone in the local area who may be interested in joining the team.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Flyers’ Café during 2026.
Auction update
The BMFA Auctions have become an important part of the overall activity at the National Centre and are not only providing a meaningful income stream, but also a valuable service to members and their families.
Our most recent Auction took place at the beginning of November and was a three day, thousand lot marathon, our biggest sale to date.
It was certainly an interesting and enjoyable sale with some superb items on offer, everything from very rare “collectors’ engines” to more everyday engines that could be put to use straight away.
Of course, the beauty of the auction process is that items sell at what they are worth on the day, great for vendors, great for purchasers, and with the added incentive of a potential bargain or two along the way.
The November auction was all engines, and was predominantly the collection of one BMFA Member, sadly deceased.
The overall sale rate was very good with a fairly low percentage remaining unsold, and some very strong prices achieved, it was a great three days (albeit, somewhat tiring ), our lead auctioneer, Bruce Collinson did his usual sterling work on the microphone and gavel over the three days, and I had the pleasure of stepping in for a few slots to give Bruce a bit of a break…….it’s harder than it looks, but I seem to be getting the hang of it….
The auctions represent a great team effort here and involve a huge amount of work, however, they are extremely rewarding and as referred, provide a valuable service.
Looking forward, we have a kit and engine sale programmed in for March and another very large engine collection coming to market next autumn (we have to plan well ahead for the large sales due to the time it takes to produce the catalogues).
In the meantime, we are staging two smaller, evening sales in January as a staff training exercise and an opportunity to offer unsold lots from previous sales at very low, or no reserve on the instruction of the vendors, (plus a few additional “goodies”). Could be an opportunity for a bargain in there as there are some notable items that have been submitted late with instructions for low reserves.
The dates for your diaries is the 15th and 27th of January, as always see the poster and supporting information on the Home page for details, they are evening, on-line only sale so you can view and bid from the comfort of your own settee, should be a good couple of hours entertainment on each occasion.
That gets the year started, more updates to follow over the coming months.
We look forward to welcoming you to the National Centre for Model Flying during 2026.
MW
