Hello everyone
I’m quoting here from Dave Crowson’s blog yesterday where he said ‘NEWS FLASH; There will be an unusual celestial event Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Wall to wall sunshine, a phenomenon unknown on the Mynd for a number of weeks‘. So Friday looks like a light northerly, Saturday north easterly and Sunday a very acceptable 10 to 15kt northerly. After such a long time with very little aviating going on this weekend is a must for going to the club. Especially as there is the annual Members’ Forum on Saturday evening starting at 1700 (change from what may have been advertised) with the usual excellent dinner afterwards. (If you want to eat please let Helen or Dave know what you’d like from the menu). The purpose of this forum is to review developments over the last 12 months and what is planned to happen over the next, and an opportunity for the officers and committee to listen to questions and comments from the floor to guide them in the development of strategy for the future. If you want the committee to reflect the wishes of the membership then you need to attend. Don’t forget also that there will be a short meeting before hand, starting at 1500 of those interested in helping at either of the two big events at the club next year, namely the VGC Rally and the Olympian Competition. See you all there.
Your Duty Teams This Weekend:
Saturday: Chris Alldis (No 1), Dave D’Arcy (TLs), Pete Orchard (winch), Charles Page (LD)
Sunday: William Brewis (No 1), Walter Baumann (TLs), Pete Orchard (winch), Dave Cole (LD)
Soaring – Chess in the Air
A really interesting article appeared via Facebook this week, shared by the BGA, entitled ‘Does Soaring Have To Be So Dangerous?’. Originating from America it makes really interesting reading. I recommend all to have a look by following this link.
Christmas Dinner
The club Christmas Dinner will be held on 14th December. Please let Helen or Dave know if you intend to be there. Remember this is when the trophies and awards are presented for achievements this year, and you may be one of them. Peter Turner, asked me to share the following with you:
Dear members
This year the ‘Social Fund will NOT be holding a Christmas raffle or Bingo to raise funds. Instead there is a wonderful opportunity, at this festive time of year, to help more youth into the air and to enjoy our sport.
The B.G.A. ‘Launchpoint Caroline awards’ have made an appeal for funding to help to provide financial assistance in getting more Juniors flying and enjoying our wonderful sport. We all know that we must promote the future of gliding and this is a great way to help, to date it has assisted more than 400 youngsters into gliding including several of our own. So we would ask you all to be even more generous than normal this year, so please dig even deeper into the pocket than usual. A collection will be made during the course of the Xmas meal.
As this is the season of giving, there will be a ‘FESTIVE’ prize from the social fund to the members. At each place setting will be one numbered ticket and at the end of the meal the Chairman will draw the prize. Merry Christmas from the Social Fund!
(editor’s note – we are hosting the Juniors Winter Series Round Two on 31 Jan – 2 Feb 2020)
Winter Lecture Series
Chris Gill got us off to a great start last Saturday with an excellent illustrated talk on Soaring in Snowdonia. It prompted much discussion during his talk and over dinner afterwards about the possibilities of using south east wave and the coastal convergence to make some epic flights in Wales from our own site. More than 40 people attended. The next one is on Saturday January 18th 2020 from Afandi Darlington from the Air Accident Investigation Branch. We all know about the AAIB but here is a chance to find out exactly what they do and how they do it. Afandi has a long background in gliding (he designed the first winglets for the LS4 which were prototyped on a glider I owned and which worked very well). I’m sure it will be worth making the trip to hear him speak.
Photo Caption Competition
Who would have believed it? Two members with exactly the same injury and exactly the same operation on the same day. I’m sure you will have a suitable caption for this photo. Let me have them and I’ll publish the best next week.
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman