News

Congratulations to Jarnail (John) Rakkar.  Sent off by Dave Bowtell

The 2014 BGA Sporting Conference and Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 1 st March at the Nottingham Belfry. Highlights of the conference programme already confirmed include an update on the Gliding Heritage Centre and the activities of the Vintage Glider Club, the latest on Part-FCL licence conversion and a review of Aerobility and the Olympics (with indoor pyrotechnics!). As always, there is no charge for attending the conference and exhibition. You can now book your lunch and tickets for the Gala Awards Dinner at

http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/notices/conference.htm.

Oh what a night - you should have been there.  

We managed to raise the princely sum of £387.50 for the ABF The Soldier's Charity.

SEVEN brave people ran the circuit (best time 20 minutes) in what can only be described as the worst conditions experienced on the airfield for a long time - pulsating rain, howling wind and cold to boot

Despite the lack of support for the run, due to the weather, we managed to raise £174.00 for the Redwings Horse Sanctuary.  Thank you so much everybody  

Entry fees £35.00, donations £77.00 and the tombola (which was a first and proved popular) £62.00

Thank you to Trish Williams and Leonie Short for manning the tombola, Matt & Ben for supplying us with bacon butties and even full breakfasts for those who could face it after the fantastic Bollywood party the previous night

Wishing you all a very happy 2014

Marjorie

Jan Forster, Chairman VGC presenting Wally with the VGC Chairman’s Cup for 1913 for his lifetime contribution to the Gliding Community including the Vintage Glider Club.

 Last year’s winner was the fabulous Deutsches Segelflug museum at the Wasserkuppe.

‘Bill Kronfeld,  a long time member of the Imperial College Gliding Club and the son of the famous gliding pioneer Robert died recently and in his will left £1,000 to the Lasham Trust.  Rather than just adding this sum to our available funds I asked the CoM for permission to plant a memorial orchard of twenty fruit tress in memory of both Father and Son.

Apart from the plaque in the clubhouse this will be the only memorial in the UK to the great man.  The main street in Oerlinghausen, the German gliding centre which Kronfeld identified as a future superb gliding site while on a record breaking flight in the 1930s, is named ‘Robert Kronfeld Strasse’ in his honour.

Not only will the fruit from the fifteen various variety apple, two pear, two plum and one medlar trees be available for members to pick and enjoy – hopefully a small donation to ‘The Lasham Trust’ when ever fruit is taken will ensure a future income stream, but the orchard will be a constant reminder of Kronfeld’s major contribution.  He was killed in a military tailless experimental glider in 1948 having taken off from Lasham.

 A naming ceremony will be held early in 2014 when Helen Kronfeld, her sons and other dignitaries hope to be present.     

 ‘Lasham Trust helps make Lasham even better’.

This article was written by Wally Kahn