East Midlands Branch - Information

The East Midlands Branch is a small friendly group who meet or arrange visits up to twelve times a year. Membership generally covers the area from south of the Humber to north of the southern tip of the Wash and from east of the Pennines to the North Sea, but nothing is set in concrete. There is no rigid boundary between the south of our area and the north of the Anglian Branch area, so members pick the most convenient Group for them or attend both Groups.

For the 2012-13 Season evening meetings will usually take place in Room A19 of the Nottingham Geospatial Building, University of Nottingham Innovation Park, Triumph Road, Nottingham, NG7 2TU on dates set out in the RIN annual programme and in our events section. Visits are also advertised in the same way. Anglian Branch members are always welcome at our events as we are at theirs. Evening meetings usually start at 7.30PM and food is available at members' own expense at local hostelries.

Our policy is to attempt to cover all aspects of navigation during the year including land, air, sea, and space at a level which can be followed by all.  In our first year we had talks about: navigating steam trawlers to Iceland in the 19030s; designing a pamphlet to teach the best use of GPS on land; and a short history of Global Navigational Satellite Systems.  We also: sailed in the Humber Survey vessels; sailed in the Humber Sloop Amy Howson; had an evening treasure hunt; visited East Midlands Air Traffic Control; and visited the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Attendance at East Midlands Branch events is open to: paid up RIN members; members’ partners; and guests. We appreciate that some of our guests for one reason or another will find it impractical to become Members or Associate Members of the Institute.  To regularise such situations, there exists in RIN Council Rules provision for accepting a small number of Local Branch Members. 

Local Branch Members have no Membership privileges apart from voting at their Branch AGM, and attending East Midland Branch Events. They do not receive a personal copy of Navigation News, or the Journal of Navigation, and they are not entitled to join any RIN Special Interest Group. The registration fee for local Branch Membership is set 'in-Branch' and for the East Midlands Branch is currently £6pa.

Paid-up RIN Members and Associated Members must not be charged for Branch Membership, and members’ partners are allowed to attend meetings and events without paying the £6, unless of course they wish to join the Branch in their own right.

Our Branch Chairman is Barry Johnson and our Branch Secretary is David Pike. Both may be contacted via emids@rin.org.uk . 

We are always ready to welcome new members and guests, and we would also be interested to hear from people who would be prepared to talk to us at our meetings or invite us for visits to their establishments.