MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week.

Last week:

We had our first instructor meeting with Steve Male in charge.  The main item discussed was the safety review we had with the BGA the week before and how we are going to make progress.  It was marvelous to see the excellent turnout.  Without the support and hard work of our instructors we would not be able to operate.

On an instructing note, Rob Hanks has had a small operation which has put him out of action for a while.  We all wish Rob a speedy and healthy recover.

Dave D’Arcy continues to re paint the signal square, see attached photo.  It is quiet but effective work like this which helps our club thrive.

Weekend outlook:

The weekend looks really promising.  Your team this weekend is Clive Crocker, Denise Hughes, Chris Alldis, Guy Hartland.

Forthcoming events:

Cross country course

Simon Adlard is running his cross country course on the 8^th -12 th August . This course is now fully booked but you can ask the office to put you on the reserve list.   We will be running this course agin next year. More details of our special courses will be published in the calendar and on the web site.

Web site events

We are always looking for volunteers to “own” a particular page or set of pages and Steve Foster has kindly volunteered to own the Events page. Maintaining content on a web site is extremely simple but won’t happen without an owner. If you would be willing to adopt a page please let me know. Our web site is one of our key tools for attracting membership and communicating with members.

Building and caravan park

The fitting out nears completion with the electrics being installed now.  Thanks very much to Matthew Cook for supplying and managing this.   Steve Rudge and Dave Crowson have been helping Matthew in the installation which is a substantial piece of work on a building this size.

Task week

This is getting closer so please put the week beginning the 20^th of  August in your diary.  Task week is a fabulous opportunity to go cross country with guaranteed retrieves,  huge landable fields and tasks set for all abilities.  There are always 2 seaters available as well so whatever your level, make a note and come along for all or part of it.   If you would like to do a task in a two seater would you please let the office know and we can start lining up suitable instructors.

Please can you submit your pictures for the calendar before or during task week. We will judge the best 12 and go to press straight afterwards.

Aerobatics course

The course in September is now full. By all means ask the office to put you on the reserve list. We expect to run another course next year.

Llanbedr expedition a message from Mike Greenwood

In March this year we had a fantastic week in Llanbedr flying in wave over Snowdonia. London Gliding Club went to Llanbedr last year for 3 weeks and flew every day. This year they are also there for 3 weeks, and have some spare capacity in their last week, 18th to 24th September. I have negotiated with Dunstable to take 494 to Llanbedr on that week, there are 2 other places available. If there is sufficient interest we can take the K21 again on the same basis that we did in March, that this depends on there being sufficient 2 seaters at the Mynd that we do not reduce the operation there. If you would like to go to Llanbedr during that week with the K21 please email me at mail@mikegreenwood.co.uk  so that we can see if we have enough capacity to be able to arrange it. Ypu can come for part or all of the week.You need to do this straight away as we have to book the places and pay a deposit in the next few days, and we have to pay costs in advance this year, which will be £10 per day plus a share of the aircraft costs.

Neal Clements

Chair.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week.

Last week:

The Wenlock Olympian Games ended on Saturday. The weather was disappointing but the organisation was superb. We need to thank the team of Dave Crowson, John Parry, Hazel Turner and Ed Jones for the day to day task setting, control and winching. Fay and the team in the kitchen were superb and last but not least we all owe a huge vote of thanks to John Randall who once again organised the event with military precision.   It was also extremely pleasing to be able to welcome the modellers. We share a precious resource with many other stakeholders and it is vital that we encourage good relations with them all.

On the above point, we are trying to arrange a farmers evening whereby we can invite all the local farmers and families and any whose fields we may have landed in. I am asking for a volunteer to own this event. You don’t have to do the work, just be the person who gives the work out!  Please send me an email of interest and I will contact you with more details.

As I have previously reported,  Steve Male will be taking over from Mike Greenwood as CFI in August and we have taken this handover as an opportunity to invite the BGA to join in a Safety Review with us.  We were privileged to have Mike Fox the National Coach and Hugh Browning the head of safety at the BGA join us for an excellent review.  Gliding is a safe sport, to  quote from the bar photo “Aviation is not of itself inherently dangerous but it is very unforgiving of carelessness or neglect”.  Our aim is to make gliding safely enjoyable and this is a journey without end.  You will be seeing some small changes and initiatives over the next few months as a result of the review.

Weekend outlook:

Saturday and Sunday will have fronts,  the gaps between will be flyable with light winds,  don’t forget even if we are not flying then we will be offering ground school of all levels and a fabulous evening meal.   Alasdair Lewis, Walter Baumann, Charles Carter, Steve Foster, Laurent Couval and Tony Dietrich are your team for the weekend.

Forthcoming events:

Cross country course

Simon Adlard is running his cross country course on the 6^th -12 th August .  As well as being national coach Simon is a formidable cross country pilot and this course is suited to all from those who have just started to those who feel they have reached a plateau. Contact the office for more details and to book a place.

Building and caravan park

The fitting out continues. Rogers workshop is taking shape. We expect to do the final tweaks at task week.

Task week

Please put the week beginning the 20^th of  August in your diary.  Task week is a fabulous opportunity to go cross country with guaranteed retrieves,  huge landable fields and tasks set for all abilities.  There are always 2 seaters available as well so whatever your level, make a note and come along for all or part of it.   If you would like to do a task in a two seater would you please let the office know and we can start lining up suitable instructors.

Please can you submit your pictures for the calendar before or during task week. We will judge the best 12 and go to press straight afterwards.

Aerobatics course

Unfortunately we had to cancel the last course but I am pleased to say we have been able to reschedule it to the weekends in September.  Please call the office to book a place

Marketing

Even in this modern age of social media leaflets are still a very powerful form of advertising.  If you see a visitor who has popped in for a cup of tea, invite them to take a leaflet or several back to their club or company or organisation. Please don’t wait for someone else to do it. We are pushing hard for new members and we need to take advantage of every selling opportunity we get. Don’t be shy, they would love to hear about gliding.

Neal Clements

Chair.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

For all you party boys and girls Saturday remains the premier après-ski choice, what with the Hog Roast and all! However, if you fancy getting your feet off the ground, Sunday looks a better prospect.

Accordingly, I have moved myself to Sunday, when we will have three instructors on duty, sunshine and 10-15 kts on the ridge. (There will be cover on Saturday if you really do need to practise those instrument approaches!)

Bookings always welcomed. See you then. Mark

A Westerly wind with some spreadout as the day went on, The task was Mynd – Great Malvern – Talgarth – Mynd.

Day 2 results, overall scores below

A showery day with a Westerly wind, the task set was Mynd – Old Radnor – Telford SW – Mynd with variable barrels.

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Committee report from the meeting on the 8^th of July

This was the last meeting attended by Mike Greenwood in his capacity as CFI. We all owe Mike a great vote of thanks, he has done a brilliant job of CFI through difficult conditions including EASA. The committee and I am sure all of the members, would like to record our thanks for his service. You can never keep a good man down and Mike is proving this by becoming the safety officer.

Building and caravan park

As I reported in my weekly blog we are reaching the end game of this project. When we finish the accounting we will be evaluating the capital projects waiting in the wings eg fleet, winches and grounds.

Accommodation block roof

We are struggling to get a supplier to repair this so we are looking at doing it ourselves. Dave Crowson will be in touch with all of us soon asking for volunteers.

Club access road

We may possibly have found a grant. We have applied and will know more in August. Fingers crossed!

Club operational plan

We operate on an 18 month cycle and refresh the plan every few months. We are doing a major revision this month so if there is an event you would like to see included then please contact Sarah Platt or myself.

We monitor the club’s operation via “a management dashboard”, comparing actual performance against plan. There are no significant variations except for finance below.

Operational areas:-

Finance

We have had extraordinary expenditure on winches and sailplane maintenance during this financial year and we will create a new, rolling 3 year forecast in October. Tony Gould is doing a fabulous job as treasurer and once the building costs are complete then we will be able to predict with more certainty.

Martin and Sue have designed a process that will enable us to take credit card details for visitors and we will move to this system soon which should help reduce bad debts. Tony Gould and Martin are writing to all our debtors who owe over a certain amount and chasing them hard for the money.

Marketing and membership

Our membership continues to grow, albeit slowly. Sarah’s marketing plan is being finalised now and will increase the efforts to attract new members.

CFI report

As reported above this is Mike’s last meeting and from the 1^st of August Steve Male will be our new CFI. For those of you who don’t know Steve he is the most able and qualified person you could imagine and we are delighted that he has agreed to take on the role.

Guy Hartland has almost completed his assistant rating and John Randall and Tim Mason are now Introductory Flight Pilots.

Launching and MT

The Vitara test is going well, Julian Fack is doing the gas conversion and bought the tow ball. Next we need to compare the likely costs of operating these kind of vehicles versus the costs and reliability of the Land Rovers.

Grounds

The seeded areas have taken extremely well.  Thanks to Charles Carter and Steve Gunn Russell for implementing this so successfully. We are in the process of ordering the signs for the new paths at the South end. These will greatly reduce the bicycle and walker traffic.

Staff

We are now in the process of implementing the “pension auto enrolment” for the staff. Our implementation date is April 2017

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week.

New Members

Welcome to Jared Forte who joined us in June.  If you see Jared please help him along, especially with the ground handling.

Last week:

The Shrewsbury school camp has flown every day, thanks to Paul Fowler for organizing this.

Weekend outlook:

This weekend sees the start of the Olympian event.  I am on duty on Saturday and we will accommodate club flying as well as the Olympian gliders.  Mike Greenwood is the competition director.  The weather looks a little tricky for the weekend, we may well be dodging showers.  If you are coming to join us on Saturday night please could you call Fay and let her know as we expect a large turnout.

Forthcoming events:

Building and caravan park

We are starting the end game now,  the site will probably be tidied this week and the internal fitting out is now going ahead, the hoist has been installed.   The caravan park access road is being completed and the West trees have been trimmed.

Siam Trophy

Steve Alexander has very kindly had the Siam Trophy cleaned and polished, it does look terrific, have a look next time you are in the bar.

Task week

Please put the week beginning the 20^th of  August in your diary.  Task week is a fabulous opportunity to go cross country with guaranteed retrieves,  huge landable fields and tasks set for all abilities.  There are always 2 seaters available as well so whatever your level, make a note and come along for all or part of it.

Neal Clements

Chair.