Think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. If people want feeding they can bring their own snacks. It only needs to be several hours, nothing massive.
Pick somewhere localish where theres ample parking (Clee Hill, Barr Beacon, Cobbs Engine House, Church of St Mary near Hanbury Hall, Digbeth if you wanted the City Centre) and people will just show up if they are able to make it.
Cheers. THere was a local chip van in one area that goes through. So I just considered that too but I am looking at general meets .
Still looking folks. I have another option in Devon but this depends on the owner and if it is too far out. As a kid we used to visit my moms friend who married a farmer. It is a big farm but I am aware since her husband died she did rent out fields to others so it depends just what land she has left. It is an option to check too.
Barr Beacon is ok to fly. There’s also Cannock Chase.
I do fly up at Barr Beacon a bit. No one has yet given me any grief. Even the living brain donors that go up there in the evening playing with gas and balloons. Daytime there are dog walkers. It is an option.
Russ, are you not organising part of the meet to accommodate this recently introduced Birthday Challenge subject?:
26. Birthday celebrations - host a party with at least five guests (and yourself). At least one guest must be a fellow GADC member - 2 points* - You can advertise the meet with a post in here
https://greyarro.ws/t/the-great-big-gadc-6th-birthday-and-treasure-hunt-challenge/65594/682?
I do not even have one point yet. Although I have not really had much time getting out to locations… However… see next post for a laugh…
So today we said we would go for some flying but also took a few bits of paper asking about flying on land… We went to one place and the guy was extremely nice and friendly. He did say they do not have many fields but said he would keep the note. We found another place and just dropped a note in and the third place was gated but there was a phone number starting 021 so the sign was pretty old as it has been quite a while since Birmingham became 0121. I decided to give it a call and a guy answered and yet it was his land. He listened to my request and said he was not sure about the restrictions with pilons being down the road (however this is a pretty good distance from this spot and I have flown in between him and the pilons with no problem. This seams like a perfect spot (I had took the drone up to look around prior to this as the other side of the gates looked derelict but I did spot a farm house and realised that someone was probably be there. I asked about us flying. He said can I get back to him and he will have a think, I said no problem. I called him back not long after to say that I had left details on his gate and he thanked me. He said that when he put the phone down he thought that he only owns 5 acres and other fields around are not his. I explained about us just wanting somewhere access with take off and landing and we would all be happy, he was good with that. I also said that if he had any interest in drones he could have a little fly. So I am waiting for that. We also found a couple of other places.
ANYWAY… here is the laugh… whilst driving round we drove towards the farm that we first went to with the really nice guy. He was waiting to turn right into his farm (across our path on the road). I flashed lights and he pulled over but stopped blocking the road, as I got closer there was a car blocking his gate way with a young lad and a girl in there. The girl had looked towards me and I just pointed mouthing “TRACKTOR” in which they turned round. The (once again I point out, very nice farmer) was gesturing for them to move. For some reason either they did not see him or the were not interested in moving. I said to .5, that is one thing you do not want to mess with. The farmer gets out and was asking him to wind his window down. I could see that the window was not open and the farmer was signalling him to move and was getting more agitated so I guess the lad was refusing. The farmer opened his gates and went back to his tractor very annoyed. The tractor edged forward a little to get the lad to move. Nope…
Right so imagine a fork lift is going to load a pallet load of potatoes into the boot of a car. Think of the suspension. Well this is what happened to this lads car when the farmer chose to use his front wheel to show who was boss. He did not push the car but the massive tread of the tyre pushed this lads car into the ground. I was sitting there laughing and clapping my hands. The lad then pulled forwards to escape and then chose to get out of the car whilst it was still in the way to examine the damage whilst his car was STILL IN THE WAY. Had he not learnt his lesson. So the tractor edged forward as if to say… second helpings sir. As there was a queue of traffic behind us we were not in a position to stop but on going up the road I then turned round as the farmer was not the youngest and it could have got awkward so I went back to see if it was all ok. All I saw was a farmer locking his gates and no car. I asked if he was ok and he said all was good, he gets it a lot and people throw rubbish in his field which is why he got extra gates closer to the road. What is in his top pocket. The letter I gave him asking if we can fly there so I pointed it out and he recognised us anyway, so he was not telling a lie when he said he would keep it. Well after congratulating him on his way of dealing with it we all laughed and went on our way.
Morel of this story, if we get a meet here, he is a happy guy until you ignore his request ha ha ha.
P.s. what makes this bad… My dash cam memory card was in the house. So gutted
On this occasion i am wiping the rules if no photo it didnt because this one i will never forget ha ha
Our first location for a meet we hope is suitable. Around the border of Birmingham and Walsall it is located a very short distance from the M6 J7. If you were mad enough you could walk from the junction but… why.
There is a small area for car parking.
Next to the car park is an entrance that is gated to stop cars but not pedestrians. So from the car park it is just round the corner to the gates and if the M3P is accurate is it about 180m walk to the opening to the TOAL
Currently the land is public and will have the odd dog walker but there is so much space this should not be a problem.
The TOAL is just over a mound of solid earth so easy to get over. The grass should be find for people who have either lost their keys or mobile phone.
There are trees for undercover just on the tarmac path right next to us should the weather not be good to us. Once in the open there is a large amount of open space to fly away from the pylons.
I wanted to get a land mark or point of interest in our first meet. Whilst this land is public at the moment I believe the council are selling it off for about £7 million. Within this sale lies The old Great Barr Hall which is now a ruin (you may have seen photos in the past I posted). The ruin has gates but last time I went they were open and people could freely walk up to the front of the building.
The building is about 500 meters flying from the TOAL point but the tarmac path does lead all the way down to it so if you were interested in a bit more of a walk then you can get to it. We chose the closest to the car park and away from the pylons but you can get further down. The building is pretty amazing and at the bottom of this I have put a bit of information of it and I may even be clever enough to link to one of my photos (or maybe a mod can assist). Even some of the dog walkers do not know that the land is for sale and are quite upset when they hear about it as all this green space may be turned into housing. I believe that there is something within the sale that whoever buys it may be responsible for the restoration of the building or something as it is listed but also a dangerous building.
So at some point in the future this land will no longer be public (or just houses) so it would be nice to get a fly over there and also get some footage that will be nice to look at in time to come as it will all change so much.
This is our first meet that we are organising so we want to make it possible for as many to come.
Are there any dates that people would like to avoid. Are Saturday’s or Sunday’s better for some. Let me know.
Here is a little bit for all of you who love a building left to ruin.
Great Barr Hall is an 18th-century mansion with associations with the Lunar Society and is a Grade II listed building. It is, however, in a very poor state of repair and is on the Buildings at Risk Register.
It is a nine-bay mansion in the Strawberry Hill Gothic Revival style. The house was much altered and extended about 1840 and in 1863 by Sir Francis Scott, 3rd Baronet, After his death in 1863. his widow Mildred lived on in the Hall until her death in 1909.
In 1911, the estate was purchased by a local hospital board. The hospital was closed and in the 1980s the grounds became a nature reserve. The hall itself was abandoned in 1978 and, despite its 1971 Grade II* listing (since revised by English Heritage to Grade II), was left to decay.
I found our photos Have a look here Foley And FoleyMrs Photos From Our Drones - Photos by Drone - Grey Arrows Drone Club UK
Who knows the future of this building. I have more to come on this but hopefully we can get a few dates of people being free and if this matches up with weather then it would be great to see you there.
We may have a new member as when we left today we saw a guy (who we also saw at another location who carries his mini 2 round with him). We told him about GADC so we may get another person to join us.
Some of the pictures of the hall old and new
These gates were open last time we went
Illustration
Parking
Then around the corner
1 Gate to get in
I have a video to follow of the open space and the hall.
Russ, honestly mate, don’t over think it or over complicate it for yourself 
It’s your meet, you pick the date and time 
If people can make it, they will. If they can’t, they won’t. There’s always next time 
Regarding the date etc… For once I am not overthinking (makes a change for me). Just seeing if people had a preference. We have every Sat and Sunday free apart from the 23rd September so we can make any. Just a help to see if any dates are more preferable so I will pick a date but if anyone wants to influence me then feel free to influence just don’t pick the 23rd. lol
Russ you can setup a poll with various dates to see which are most popular 
Yes with some help. I once tried to set a poll on here and failed. Watch this space. Having a go now lol
EDIT:- How did I screw it up the first time. That was easy ha ha.
Re 10th September
