Feb 262017
 

We never give up.  Patrick from the National Trust has agreed to come along on Saturday evening and talk to us about the work of the Trust and the Mynd.

The talk will start at 6.30 in the club house if you wish to eat at the club afterwards would you please let Helen know as early as possible.

Feb 242017
 

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future.

Last week:

Doris

The only thing that flew from the club today was the weather station which launched itself off its pole, soared the ridge for a couple of beats and then landed at the bottom of its pole!

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is :  Mark Sanders, Alasdair Lewis, Mike Witton, Peter Orchard, Glyn Macarthur, John O’Reilly

Forthcoming events:

Summer is only 3 weeks away!

The club goes full time on the 20th of March.  The get checked week coincides perfectly with the start of the season and I am confident that it will be the start of a superb soaring season.    Please start booking dates in your diary to come and enjoy the greatest sport in the world.

Winter lectures

The curse of the Winter lectures strikes again.  Hugh Browning has had an accident and is in hospital,  I have passed on our best wishes for his recovery.   I am now convinced that there is a conspiracy.

We now have 1 booked during March. Mike Groves of Skylaunch.  Please do make an effort to attend, it’s a great night and the trick is to fly in the day, have the talk then a really good supper.  

11 March Mike Groves from Skylaunch.  This will be a fascinating talk about our winches and winching.

Juniors over Easter

The Club will be running a course for junior members over the Easter holidays from 10 to 13 April with a dedicated instructor and glider.  Junior members may attend for just one day or more. Any members interested should book a place through the office

Llanbedr Expedition

The MGC expedition to LLanbedr has had to change dates and will now be from the 18th to the 24th March 2017.  We will be taking the Twin Astir for club flying, and there are a number of Duos going that may have spare seats. If you want to go in the Astir but have not had an email with dates allocated please email mail@mikegreenwood.co.uk  with which dates you are able to attend.

20 March get checked week

This is really filling up so I recommend you make your booking as soon as you can.  Steve Male is running this popular week,  it’s a great opportunity to come along and make sure you are ready for the soaring season which I guarantee is going to be brilliant this year.   Don’t forget as Andy Holmes told me “April is when all the records are set” so you will be ready for the great weather.  We have circulated the details separately.  Contact the office if you haven’t yet received them

AGM

8 April 17:00.  Please put this into your diary.  We intend a slightly different format this year with the AGM, followed by presentations on the options for going forward.  We have had a couple of good years but we face stormy times ahead.  We must strengthen our position now while we can and your input and feedback are essential.  At the February committee meeting we agreed our 3 main goals and will be publishing them before the meeting so once the formal part of the meeting is over you can contribute to the discussion regarding the priorities of the club over the next few years.

Aim higher course

18 -19 March.

We have 15 attendees but there are still places available. Please put this date in your diary, and book in with the office now.  We are so privileged to have Kevin Atkinson to do this course for us.  He will cover:

 How the sky works

How to work the sky

Going further and faster

Self-teaching skill drills and self-tasking

And will be the best preparation you could think of before the cross country season starts in earnest.  This is proving very attractive to visitors from far and wide so I do encourage Mynd members to book up while you can.

June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical

I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates.  This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice.  We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.   We are already getting applications and I think this will be a popular one.

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June.  In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members.  Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two.  It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect).   Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Feb 232017
 

If you are picking a day to fly this weekend, the clear winner would be … Friday.

It’s hard to believe, (given that there was a peak reading this morning of 85kt W – just before the weather station pole blew over!) but tomorrow is forecast to be 15 WNW with good headroom from the start, rising to 3600ASL – and a 3 star rating on RASP!

A welcome opportunity for the private owners to open the trailer doors!

If you are interested in two-seater flying, please book via mgcbooking@gmail.com. If there is sufficient demand, I’ll help with instruction, and maybe others will too.

Mark

(Saturday and Sunday, I’m sure, will be great social days as always at the Mynd, though currently the flying side looks a little more doubtful – but hey, what do I know!!?)

 Posted by at 11:22 am
Feb 202017
 

Wednesday is currently forecast to be post cold front, with enough headroom, 20WNW, ridge, thermal and wave all likely, so we will be open for flying. Orch has kindly offered to launch us and I will be running the field. If you are interested in two-seater flying, please book using mgcbooking@gmail.com so that we can gauge demand. If anyone else is able to help out with instruction (subject to demand), please let us know via the same email address.

The flying is all dependent on the timing of the front overnight on Tuesday. If that changes unfavourably, we’ll update you via these pages.

Hope to see you then, Mark

 Posted by at 2:15 pm
Feb 162017
 

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 and the committee  meeting.

Last week:

More cameras

Thanks to the sterling work of Richard Bennett, we now have another webcam. This is a timelapse webcam, showing the view to the west over the last 20 minutes. Please note that this is a work in progress, and we would welcome feedback. The webcam appears on the same page as the other cams, i.e. http://www.midlandgliding.club/weather-information/

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is :  Clive Crocker, Denise Hughes, David Brown, Steve Foster, Nigel Lassetter, Stephen Alexander, Mark Wakem.

Forthcoming events:

Winter lectures

February is the cruellest month:   We had to cancel the National Trust speaker because of the second snowy weekend of the winter.  In the words of Auric Goldfinger “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence three times is ….”

We now have 2 booked during March. We have Hugh Browning the driving force on the safety initiatives, Mike Groves of Skylaunch.  Please do make an effort to attend, it’s a great night and the trick is to fly in the day, have the talk then a really good supper.  

4  March Hugh Browning

This is essential for all glider pilots,  believe me Hugh knows everything about every club in the country and will not only inspire you but make you a safer and better pilot.

11 March Mike Groves from Skylaunch.  This will be a fascinating talk about our winches and winching.

Juniors over Easter

The Club will be running a course for junior members over the Easter holidays from 10 to 13 April with a dedicated instructor and glider.  Junior members may attend for just one day or more. Any members interested should book a place through the office

Llanbedr Expedition

Mike Greenwood has booked the week of  11th March in Llanbedr taking the K21 again.  Please contact the office to book a slot.  We have about 5 already.

Safety reminder from the BGA

Soaring Protocol. Following a recent review, the soaring safety protocol has been updated to include ridge soaring protocols. The latest version of the protocol is at https://members.gliding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/04/Soaring-Protocol.pdf. No matter how experienced you are, please refresh your understanding.

20 March get checked week

Steve Male is running this popular week,  it’s a great opportunity to come along and make sure you are ready for the soaring season which I guarantee is going to be brilliant this year.   Don’t forget as Andy Holmes told me “April is when all the records are set” so you will be ready for the great weather.  We have circulated the details separately.  Contact the office if you haven’t yet received them

AGM

8 April 17:00.  Please put this into your diary.  We intend a slightly different format this year with the AGM, followed by presentations on the options for going forward.  We have had a couple of good years but we face stormy times ahead.  We must strengthen our position now while we can and your input and feedback are essential.  At the February committee meeting we agreed our 3 main goals and will be publishing them before the meeting so once the formal part of the meeting is over you can contribute to the discussion regarding the priorities of the club over the next few years.

Aim higher course

18 -19 March.

We are up to 15 attendees but there are still places available. Please put this date in your diary, and book in with the office now.  We are so privileged to have Kevin Atkinson to do this course for us.  He will cover:

 How the sky works

How to work the sky

Going further and faster

Self-teaching skill drills and self-tasking

And will be the best preparation you could think of before the cross country season starts in earnest.  This is proving very attractive to visitors from far and wide so I do encourage Mynd members to book up while you can.

June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical

I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates.  This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice.  We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.   We are already getting applications and I think this will be a popular one.

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June.  In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members.  Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two.  It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect).   Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Notes from the committee meeting held on the 10th of February

Standing orders

The fire alarm inspection will take place on the 17th of Feb

The AGM plan is well advanced, afterwards we will have a discussion on the spending options for the club i.e Fleet, Infrastructure, MT

The ESA grant is late.  Charles Carter will resolve on his return.

Running projects

The caravan and campsite is ready for completion when the rain stops!

The accommodation block roof quotes are still very expensive.  Paul Waller wants to inspect the building structure itself.

Access road.

Howard Bradley is getting towards the end of his research on the best way to refurbish the road,  there is a meeting with contractors this week then visits to similar sites. 

Club fleet improvement

Steve Male tabled his proposal with backing information from Simon,  the principles were agreed and will go forward to the members at the post AGM discussion.

Staff Pension scheme

Auto enrolment is in place, our staging date is 1 April when the letters to staff will be issued.  The cost this year is 2%  this will rise to 3%

Land Rover and Vitara

Julian has brought the tank up and confirmed everything is ready for fitting.  Marc is getting the Land Rovers ready for sale. 

Electric sheep fence

Howard has supplied the parts, the contractor was ill so had to postpone the installation

Air Training Cadets

Paul Fowler is progressing the implementation, we have the terms of agreement and intend to start in April.

Business rates

The 2010 valuation has been sent to the BGA with the 2017 and Charles will progress upon his return.

Operational Plan

The Easter recruitment had to be cancelled because we could not get an owner, the Dutch aren’t coming, they cant get enough interest.

The dashboard shows we are on target, ahead on trial lessons, below on course bookings. 

Strategy and direction

The 3 proposals to the members aim to improve  the fleet, the Infrastructure and the MT.  The latter will be by provision each year, the former via spending from reserve.

We are meeting the BGA to discuss the club’s development plan and our structure, particularly relating to CASC.

Finance

Simon has produced a cashflow predictor which will be updated monthly, currently we show break even,  this is without re investment.

Marketing and membership

Sarah is creating the membership survey which we hope to launch on the 1st of March.

We  are creating new packages for recruitment, the first will be the “to solo”

Rob Shepherd, ably assisted by John O’Reilly, has been developing terrific plans for the updated club promotional video, along the lines of ‘A Day in the Life at MGC’. Ask Sarah if you want full details. Rob will contact John in the next week or so with a view to start some of the indoor club facilities shots/filming mid-March with completion July/August time dependant of our availability, weather and club activities.

CFI report

1 incident reported this period.

Steve is liaising with a scout group with a view to them using gliding as a badge.

Fleet

The K23 has completed its ARC.

Launching and MT

The Skylaunch retrieve winch is nearing completion at Skylaunch, the rest of the equipment maintenance is progressing very well and we are currently on track for the new season.

Grounds

The gate at the West, bottom, Asterton has been repaired

The signage at the South end has been replaced.

IT

The quiet room computer has been sent off for an estimate of repair, in the meantime there is a low spec computer which will do weather and notams.

Hospitality

The visitor booking process will be amended so that accommodation will require a £50 deposit and there will be a 30 day notice cancellation period. 

 

Feb 092017
 

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:

Field state

It’s been raining.  Last week I started building an ARC (geddit?) and it was pointed out the field is now effectively a bowl of porridge, especially at the South end.  We must be extremely careful,  damage caused by vehicles going off track will be extremely difficult to repair.  I am hopeful that next weeks promised dry spell will help, but please, until further notice, make sure you treat the field as “delicate”.

MT shed photo

After huge effort we now have a fabulous workshop,  I thought the photo below sums it up.  We couldn’t imagine doing this a few years ago.

mtshed

Juniors

I think the note from Steve Pozerskis sums up the weekend pretty well:-

“Dear all
A quick note to say thank you for welcoming the Juniors to the Long Mynd again.
The amazing views, the friendly members, cosy bar and great food makes for a fantastic weekend.  We really do appreciate you putting up with us!  We hope that the added bar takings/flight numbers provide some comfort!
This year we had everyone from pre-solo to the Junior World and Bronze Medal Champions and the UK 18m National Champion.  All had a great time and got something from the weekend.  113 launches in one day was a record for us!
We hope to be back next year!
Thanks again
The Junior Development Team”

Over 100 launches and nothing but favourable comments from our members as well.

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is :  Neal Clements, Matthew Cook, David Brown, Dave d’Arcy, Chris Alldis, Guy Hartland, Stephen Alexander. 

Snow is a concern for this weekend,  currently I think it will be more in the East, however I will blog tomorrow if I feel that there is a danger to the hill.  Otherwise it will definitely be chilly so thermals will be in order!!

Forthcoming events:

 

Winter lectures

We now have 3 booked during February and March. We have Hugh Browning the driving force on the safety initiatives, Mike Groves of Skylaunch and the National Trust.  Please do make an effort to attend, it’s a great night and the trick is to fly in the day, have the talk then a really good supper.  

 

11 Feb National trust

 The work of Volunteer Rangers on the Long Mynd.

Join Patrick the National Trust Area Ranger for the Long Mynd for an informative but jovial look at the important hard work that the dedicated Volunteer Rangers carry out to protect this designated landscape for all to enjoy. The talk will highlight the vital conservation management that is carried out to ensure this Site of Special Scientific Interest within the Shropshire Hills AONB is protected.

 

4  March Hugh Browning

This is essential for all glider pilots,  believe me Hugh knows everything about every club in the country and will not only inspire you but make you a safer and better pilot.

11 March Mike Groves from Skylaunch.  This will be a fascinating talk about our winches and winching.

 

Juniors over Easter

The Club will be running a course for junior members over the Easter holidays from 10 to 13 April with a dedicated instructor and glider.  Junior members may attend for just one day or more. Any members interested should book a place through the office

Llanbedr Expedition

Mike Greenwood has booked the week of  11th March in Llanbedr taking the K21 again.  Please contact the office to book a slot.  We have about 5 already.

 

20 March get checked week

Steve Male is running this popular week,  it’s a great opportunity to come along and make sure you are ready for the soaring season which I guarantee is going to be brilliant this year.   Don’t forget as Andy Holmes told me “April is when all the records are set” so you will be ready for the great weather.  We have circulated the details separately.  Contact the office if you haven’t yet received them

AGM

8 April 17:00.  Please put this into your diary.  We intend a slightly different format this year with the AGM, followed by presentations on the options for going forward.  We have had a couple of good years but we face stormy times ahead.  We must strengthen our position now while we can and your input and feedback are essential.

Aim higher course

18 -19 March.

We are up to 15 attendees but there are still places available. Please put this date in your diary, and book in with the office now.  We are so privileged to have Kevin Atkinson to do this course for us.  He will cover:

 How the sky works

How to work the sky

Going further and faster

Self-teaching skill drills and self-tasking

And will be the best preparation you could think of before the cross country season starts in earnest.  This is proving very attractive to visitors from far and wide so I do encourage Mynd members to book up while you can.

June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical

I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates.  This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice.  We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.   We are already getting applications and I think this will be a popular one.

 

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June.  In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members.  Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two.  It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect).   Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Feb 072017
 

Please dont forget this coming Saturday we have a talk by the National trust about the Mynd.  We share this wonderful site with a lot of other constituents and this talk will inform us all.  Come along, fly, enjoy the talk and have supper!   What you do then is completely up to you.

Patrick’s talk:-

The work of Volunteer Rangers on the Long Mynd.
Join Patrick the National Trust Area Ranger for the Long Mynd for an informative but jovial look at the important hard work that the dedicated Volunteer Rangers carry out to protect this designated landscape for all to enjoy. The talk will highlight the vital conservation management that is carried out to ensure this Site of Special Scientific Interest within the Shropshire Hills AONB is protected.

Feb 022017
 

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:

Weekend outlook:

Your team this weekend is :  Mark Sanders, Guy Hartland, Nigel Lassetter, Ed Jones, Peter Orchard, Laurant Couval.

Forthcoming events:

Flarm and radio application

Dave Wedlock is still assembling justifications for the above, just to remind you:-
On the back of our success with a Sport England grant for the new building – the club is going for a Sport England “Small Grant” – around £10,000. This will be for flarms and new radios for the whole club fleet. As before, we have to demonstrate the need and give evidence to support
In essence we are saying the flarms and radios will be used in x-country coaching – with instructors being in reliable contact with x-c pilots going for e.g. silver badges – and safer flying while doing it because of flarm proximity warnings. You get the picture.
If you could pen a few well chosen words saying why you think such a project is needed – and email me at david.wedlock@live.co.uk
This will provide the “evidence the project needs to happen” in Sport England speak.
I will then cut and past all responses into a single document which goes with the application.
Thanks in anticipation………..Dave Wedlock
Please email your paragraph, we really need this.  Some of you have already responded and that’s great but we need more.

Winter lectures

We now have 3 booked during February and March. We have Hugh Browning the driving force on the safety initiatives, Mike Groves of Skylaunch and the National Trust.  Please do make an effort to attend, it’s a great night and the trick is to fly in the day, have the talk then a really good supper.  

 

11 Feb National trust

 Patrick Evans.  Patrick is from the National Trust and will give a light hearted talk on The Long Mynd.

 

4  March Hugh Browning

This is essential for all glider pilots,  believe me Hugh knows everything about every club in the country and will not only inspire you but make you a safer and better pilot.

11 March Mike Groves from Skylaunch.  This will be a fascinating talk about winches and winching.

 

Juniors

We will be hosting the BGA Juniors Winter expedition on the 1st weekend of Feb.   Several have arrived already, one is in a tent!!!

The Club will be running a course for junior members over the Easter holidays from 10 to 13 April with a dedicated instructor and glider.  Junior members may attend for just one day or more. Any members interested should book a place through the office

Llanbedr Expedition

Mike Greenwood has booked the week of  11th March in Llanbedr taking the K21 again.  Please contact the office to book a slot.

Cross Country coaching

20 March get checked week

Steve Male is running this popular week,  it’s a great opportunity to come along and make sure you are ready for the soaring season which I guarantee is going to be brilliant this year.   Don’t forget as Andy Holmes told me “April is when all the records are set” so you will be ready for the great weather.  We have circulated the details separately.  Contact the office if you haven’t yet received them

AGM

8 April 17:00.  Please put this into your diary.  We intend a slightly different format this year with the AGM, followed by presentations on the options for going forward.  We have had a couple of good years but we face stormy times ahead.  We must strengthen our position now while we can and your input and feedback are essential.

Aim higher course

18 -19 March.

We are up to 12 attendees but there are still places available. Please put this date in your diary, and book in with the office now.  We are so privileged to have Kevin Atkinson to do this course for us.  He will cover:

 How the sky works

How to work the sky

Going further and faster

Self-teaching skill drills and self-tasking

And will be the best preparation you could think of before the cross country season starts in earnest.  This is proving very attractive to visitors from far and wide so I do encourage Mynd members to book up while you can.

June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical

I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates.  This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice.  We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.   We are already getting applications and I think this will be a popular one.

 

Thinking of summer

Mac is organising the “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June.  In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members.  Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two.  It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect).   Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.

chairman@midlandgliding.club