Thank you. That’s the reassurance I needed 
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That is fab to hear, thank you 
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Hi Amber, welcome from the sunny Black Country
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Before I found GADC I did join a different club. I saw them at a meet that they hold and when I went through the gate there was a drone flier. Had a chat and was a nice guy. At that point I never thought about the gap between him and the rest of the people. I drove down and they seemed to be pretty friendly. They were however flying planes but was was a club that said they welcomed all sorts. I joined. Then I found out that being a drone owner was not what was wanted. Numerous members started to push planes on to me and also said that if I wanted to fly a drone i had to go aaaaaalllll the way over there at the other end of the strip. I thought well why can I still not stand with you. I could take off and slowly hover the height I would walk to the other end and then go up. No, you are a drone flyer and you stay out of the way of us. There is a whatsapp group and that is the communication with them. I have to wait for the membership to expire. I went to the renewal process to cancel and a few others said that I was welcome but I did have a few people get my number out of the whatsapp group and call and tell me that I was not wanted. I was also told that if we were to turn up at the field and there were some of the old timers there, they would land, pack up and leave and be pretty certain to the rest of them that it was because of us. We paid a the same membership as the rest of them yet they want a runway maintained and I just hand launch or take a box. Then on top of the membership I had to pay £50 to them so they could give money to the council to fly in this open space. So to total it up. We paid £50 each to the council and another £50 or so for joining. Ok they do have a base where they fly but it is a local club so they are mainly in the area. In December was our first renewal and they even charged me for another operator ID when they asked if I had one and I said yes I do. It was a few months later when they finally applied for all the things that they sent me a new Operator ID and charged me for it. In all the time I have been a member I have flown at the field maybe 3 times. One time was meeting a member who wanted to convert me to planes and let me fly his plane while he had a buddy box to take over. It was not my thing and will not be. The money taken from me for a new operator ID was not returned, I found some of the members were not charged to fly at the field as they did not go so that is another lot of money we over paid. When I went there for one of their fly meets I was nice enough to go up in the air to film a record they were doing with the most aircrafts in the sky at once and that is when it was a dog fight with a couple of members aiming to take me out of the sky which I hate in any situation. I paid a lot for the drones and I cannot afford to replace them but some people have a wealth of money to repair them. There were a few members that were just not nice.
Well in the whatsapp group there was someone who came on there asking about flying a drone at the field. I sent them a message saying that they would probably not be welcome. Conversation carried on and I saw that no one would talk to him (despite me causing a bit of a stink previous saying that drone people paying the same money should also be welcome or told not to join). One person finally replied and said “I don’t like to see people ignored… and went on to say, come down and fly”. One person out of the whole group decided to answer which triggered on other person saying… "as _____ said, pop over during the weekend and we’ll be able to sort you out. That was it.
Now please do not take this as sexist in anyway. I think that female flyers feel a bit daunted in a hobby that has more male flyers. However, when the big meet turned up, I went with @FoleyMrs and we were overwhelmed at the response that both of us got. It was not me taking my wife to a meet, it was us both turning up and the guys said hello to both me and my wife equally. She felt comfortable being there and it was an amazing weekend. I personally am not a fan of social media at all for my own scary reasons. However, on this group (even though it is a form of social media), we feel safe, we feel cared for, we feel part of the group (and we have not been a member for that long compared to some of the people on here). We laugh when someone randomly involved us in a conversation, it is like we were not forgotten (usually about finding things like keys and drones etc). When our names pop up, it is nice that someone thought about us.
Yes it is fine us telling you things to reassure you and this is coming from someone who’s data got sold years ago by a BIG company by accident and it caused life changing problems. This place has some great people. I is nice you are reassured but time will also back this up. If there is a meet, go there if you can. When you meet people from an online group it changes these little icons you see. When you send a message you see a face, you see a character and you see locations as a memory. I mean if I was to describe some people without mentioning names… I message one person who was trying to break wood at the big meet and ended up on the floor a lot of times (who also was kind enough to go out of their way and fetch a drone for me when it crashed). I message another person who, in order to get his drone ended up with multiple cuts to his legs from nature being a pain, i send a message to one person who we had a great laugh as I spent a lot of the big meet listening out for his drone in long grass, someone else who’s projectile drone did not like the music on the laptop playing and shot into our tent to try to change it landing on the laptop, I could go on. I admit I am an overthinker and I laugh “WITH” people not “AT” people but I still self assess things I say to make sure it is not taken the wrong way. This over thinking is dwindling in Grey Arrows as people are not taking things the wrong way, they are involving me in conversations, they are answering me in messages, they are helping and they are becoming some of the best friends I have ever had.
You will get a great wealth of information here as well as friendship. GADC is a family and one I am proud to be part of. Social media haunts me but I am happy here. So again, welcome, you will soon realise how much of a good decision it was to join.
One thing, if you make a mistake on a thread and you get a screen pop up with one side what you did in red and the other side in green of what it should be “it is not a telling off”. It is just a moderator helping you and fixing the problem. The first time this happened to me was from a friend on here who was helping but I thought I had done something wrong and he had not even finished reading the rest of it before I had deleted it thinking I had done something wrong.
If you do make a mistake a moderator will help and fix it for you. No one has a go, no one moans, it is a new world in here and friendships are made.
This may have been a long message but I see you not happy with social media and I also am the same, but in here, if you need to ask something just ask, there is a chance that someone will know, or if not, someone will try to find out.
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Well when drones hit the back of your plane… You’d understand 
I have a well used Zohd dart if you interested?
heh seriously, this place is awesome. Great club, friendly to all, and at the meets all sorts are welcome. yes GADC was setup for the automated DJI Mavics and Autels of the world, but there is an FPV/self build side, and wings (and now even cars are being welcomed). All inclusive here. A couple of years ago I too looked to join a local BMFA flying group, and as you said the “old timers” didn’t like quads. My interest spans all the RC models (I have owned 4 DJI quads, and they have their uses). I personally love the flying rather than the photos/videos (mainly as I’m just poor at editing stuff), but I love that here, all welcome and fly together happily.
With the hobby as a whole being under attack and scrutiny, whether it’s the “flying tripods”, the self quild FPV, old style planes, FPV wings, helicopters, etc… I wish that as a group we’d all work together nicely. GADC does do that, but I, like you, have seen other groups be snobby and not wanting their way of doing things changing…
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I get that but why do I have to stand over there… when I was helping them out I was fully allowed to stand with them all but otherwise… get over there. They are just against drones. Where GADC welcome all.
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Trying my hardest not to start spending money on cars…
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Well see lol 
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Hi and welcome
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