There are currently 15 BMFA Areas.
Each affiliated club is a member of their Area committee who meet on a regular basis, affiliated clubs who wish to submit proposals to the BMFA Council (Board of Directors) do this through their Area committee.
Areas also organise many events and competitions throughout the year.
Each Area has elected officers, elected at the Area AGM by those affiliated clubs in attendance.
BMFA-Areas-Constitution-April2023
Area Officer Roles and Responsibilities
The Officers have the following outline responsibilities:
Chairman, whose primary responsibilities are to manage the affairs of the Area and chair Area meetings. A Vice Chairman may support the role and deputise in the Chairman’s absence
The Area Secretary records and maintains the Minutes of all Area meetings and deals with Area correspondence. They must ensure that notices of all the Area meetings are communicated to clubs at the correct times. The Minutes of all Area meetings must be copied to the BMFA Office. If there are frequent meetings it is reasonable to wait for Minutes to be ratified at the next meeting before sending them in, otherwise the provisional Minutes should be sent. Provisional Minutes of Area AGMs and EGMs should be sent within 28 days of the meeting.
The Area Treasurer manages the Area finances. Accounts must be sent out to all clubs with the main AGM notice. The Treasurer should ensure that the audited accounts are ready and with the Area Secretary at least one month before the Area AGM. This in turn means that the accounts should be with the Financial Inspectors several weeks before this date. However, the financial year runs from 1st April to 31st March, which gives several months in which to prepare the accounts. The Area Treasurer is also responsible for co-ordinating and submitting the annual grant application.
The Area Delegate is a voting member of Areas Council and is expected to attend Council meetings and report Council business to the Area Committee. The Area Delegate is NOT mandated in either the Area Constitution or the Society Articles of Association to follow the wishes of the Area Committee in all matters. The most that the Area Delegate is required to do is to ‘liaise between the Areas Council and the Area Committee’ and to ‘ensure that Council is kept informed’ of the opinions of the Area Committee. In practice the Area Delegate will follow the wishes of the Area Committee whenever practicable, but there may be occasions at Areas Council when ad hoc matters are raised on which they will have to make decisions purely on what is said around the table.
If the Area Delegate has to miss a Council meeting for any reason the Area Committee may send an alternate. This allows other Area officers to gain experience of a Council meeting, which can give the Area Committee an insight into the work that is required of their Area Delegate.
The Achievement Scheme Co-ordinator (ASC) does not have to be an existing Club Examiner or Area Chief Examiner, although this is often the case. If an Area is unable to appoint an ASC they must inform the ASRC, who will appoint an individual on the Areas behalf.
The ASC is responsible for:
- Identifying, mentoring and co-ordinating the activities of the ACEs and ACIs during the year.
- Ensuring that sufficient ACEs and ACIs are available within the Area by identifying suitable candidates, submitting nomination forms to the Area Committee for signature, and subsequently forwarding these to the Scheme Controller for approval. Nominations can be made at any time of the year.
- Collating the annual reports from the ACEs and ACIs and discussing their re-ratification with the individuals and the Area Committee prior to the AGM.
The Achievement Scheme Handbook provides more detailed guidance on much of the above, including guidance on the number of ACEs and ACIs required for effective delivery of the Scheme within an Area.
ACEs and ACIs are automatically non-voting officers of the Area and are required to provide a report of their activities to the AGM. This ties these posts into the Area system and allows the Area an overview and governance of what they do, which guides the Area when deciding whether or not to re-ratify them for the coming year.
Other roles:
Financial Inspectors (Auditors). It is acceptable for an Area to have only one independent Financial Inspector but it is safer with two. They may not hold any other elected post on the Committee.
Communications Officers – (typically two people plus assistants as needed) who are responsible for promoting the Area news and activities using appropriate media. They are responsible for the website content and social media presence and liaising with local press offices as required.
British Drone Flyers Representative - who is responsible for the promotion and organisation of drone flying activities within the Area.
Outreach Officer liaises with the Outreach Director and is responsible for the promotion and organisation of all Outreach activities within the Area.
Temporary posts may be created at any meeting and they last until the next AGM when they can be extended on a yearly basis. They are useful for someone running a special event such as a fly-in etc.
If the Annual General Meeting so decides then assistants may be appointed to help the above officials with their duties.