Well, another successful Junior Development Week has just been completed at Vale of White Horse Gliding Centre, near Swindon. Many thanks to DCFI Gordon who organised the week, and was on-site instructing every day.

Thanks to all the parents for delivering & collecting their offspring.

Thanks also to the ground helpers who kept the whole thing moving including but not limited to Georgina, Pauline, and Martin.

Flying-wise, thanks to CFI Al, Kevin and especially Chairman Les for flying the tug all week, as well asTim for giving of his time and making his glider available for the juniors to enjoy.

We managed to fly on three days during which the following was achieved: Two BBQs, and several trays of delicious cakes were consumed 😁, three juniors had the chance to fly with Tim on cross-country flights in the mighty ASH25 to experience the performance and learn about handling large-span flapped gliders. One junior converted to the K6. One junior completed his first closed-circuit cross-country task. Another junior had his first proper solo soaring flight (1hr and 20min), and lots of soaring was done by all the juniors, whether solo or dual. Several private owners took the opportunity to fly and soar, too. Overall, a lot of great progress was made by all those attending.

Oh, and one of our junior members, James, has received his SPL licence, as seen in the picture above, being congratulated by Gordon. Well done James!

If you’d like to join our active group of junior members, we’d love to hear from you, using the contact page on the club website. With the right training, and the necessary skills and judgement demonstrated, you could be flying solo from 14 years old. (We also welcome slightly older pilots, so don’t rule yourself out if you’re in your 50’s, 60’s or 70’s!)