News
Here you can find updates on club events and socials:
Club News
Page 1
April 2008 - New 2008/09 Committee
The AGM was a great success, and the new committee have been voted in. Congratulations to all of them! Official Handover will take place after the exam period, but the new committee will slowly be taking on their new responsibilities from now onwards.
*President: Azusa Yoshida
*Vice-president: Louise Beech
*Treasurer: Alistair Green
*Secretary: Claudia Krehl
*Flying Organiser: Matt Lumley
*Aircraft and Equipment Officer: John Vodden
*Social Secretary: Rik Brown
*Publicity Officer: Rosie Homer and Andy Langton
Awards were also given:
*Best Achievement: Devin Giddings
*Best Commitment: Chris Emerson
Hope to see you all at the airfield soon!
March 2008 - Goodbye HPE, Hello Soaring Season
Hi everyone, and sorry about the lack of news updates. We've just been too busy doing things to write about them! A quick round up of what has happened since the last news.
Exams have come, gone and are due again... Lots of flying has been done by all.
HPE has been sold. Dumfries and District Gliding Club, a growing club in need of a newer two seat training gliding to replace their Ka2, has bought her. After much work to get her through the new 'EASA' airworthiness requirements (she is now G-CHPE) and various new parts fitted, she was towed up to Scotland.
Here you can see some interesting videos from someone visiting Dumfries for their first flight, and being shown round the hangar, where they have, among other things, a Skylark 2, and taking their first flight in the club Ka2: Video 1, Video 2.
Here you can see some pictures from HPE's first flight at her new home!
We've also been working hard to get the Acro through the EASA transition, and have splashed out on the registration marks 'G-NUGC', the 'NU2' tail number, and some fancy new tail art.
Somehow, amid all this, we've also made our annual trip to Portmoak. Plenty of flying, freezing cold weather, and lots of socialising have made for a fun and productive week. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures as they appear!
Once the Easter break is over, why not come flying? The conditions are getting better, so if you enjoyed it before, you'll love it now!
December 2007 - A Good Start To The 2007-08 Year
It's the end of the first term! Clichés about it just feeling like yesterday aside, we've had a very successful term, and now seems like a good time to look back at what we've done well, and what we could have done better.
Freshers' Fayre was a success, with lots of exciting/excited new members sitting in our Acro. We've managed to get 78 paid up members this term, of which over 60 have been flying. This is brilliant, and really underlines how active a club we are. For those of you who have joined, but haven’t come flying yet - there's still plenty of time next semester!
We all should pat ourselves on the back for our trips to Wittering and Sutton Bank. Huge amounts of fun were had by all, and they both went off without a hitch. Thanks should again go to James Fowkes for his log-book expedition, and to Devin Giddings for his organising of the Sutton Bank trip.
Of course, there are still ways we can be better. We need to work hard to maintain the goodwill we have at Cranwell by always seeming to be an asset to the club - that means running about, hooking on gliders, going on retrieve and being helpful, which we almost all do anyway, but could do more. But, the fact remains that this has been a fantastic term for NUGC, and the potential is there for the next one to be even better! Roll on Portmoak, and I'll see you all in the air!
November 2007 - Sutton Bank 2007, Future Expeditions And Socials
A lot has been going on with NUGC since the last piece of news. In addition to the regular weekend flying at Cranwell, we have also just got back from our first expedition of the year - a trip up to Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire, allowed some brilliant wave soaring at a time of year when you just don't expect to be up in the air for a long time. Flying in wave is something that is difficult to describe - the lift is incredibly smooth, and you only really realise that you are climbing when you look at the variometer. Flying above the clouds is another one of those kinds of experiences - take a look at the Sutton Bank thread on the forums to see some pictures. The trip was helped by us getting several trips in the pride of Sutton Bank's fleet, the DG1000. This is a beautiful glider, incredibly expensive, and really nice to fly. It also is specially designed to keep your feet warm in November wave-soaring trips!
If you'd like to add this sort of experience to your gliding resumé, then we've arranged several other trips over the year. There is a trip to Denbigh (Wales) coming up in February, a trip to Portmoak (Scotland) over the Easter holidays, and the potential for more.
Also, in more down-to-earth stuff, we have lots of socials coming up (Christmas Meal, Laserquest and Poker Night), so keep reading your email updates to get more info on those!
September 2007 - First Weekend
Congratulations everyone on a brilliant first weekend of flying, combining the thrills and spills of a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypast, a short visit by the Red Arrows, and lots and lots of gliding! We have also, thanks to much negoiation, and some greasings of palms, been able to organise flying for the 6th/7th October (Thanks James, Chris, Pete and everyone at Four Counties). So, if you haven't been able to get your name down yet, come along on Tuesday (early!) and grab a space! We'll be flying at RAF Wittering with Four Counties, which is another club we have close links with - this will mean a little more driving time, and possibly a variation in launch fees but it'll still be in the same price range. We have also had our Acro flown over, so it'll be sitting in the hanger there, waiting for us and ready to provide some soaring-fee free flying.
Longer term, planning has begun for our annual "Inter-University Soaring Week" trip to Portmoak, in Scotland. It's loads of fun, and you get a ridiculous amount of flying, so if you're interested, talk to a committee member. Hopefully, We'll see lots of people at the upcoming socials - Signup Social, Goosefair, Freshers' Intro Evening, Beer Festival etc.
See you all there!