South of England Show - Ardingly Friday10th June 2022

Today, both Rob S and I attended the South of England Show held at Ardingly, West Sussex. Not only were we representing the BMFA but also Slope Soaring Sussex. When I arrived at the stand, I found Rob unpacking BMFA documentation and items to give away and other items to sell including basic gliders.

BMFA members attending today also included Stuart Willis (Chair BMFA SE Area) and Marc Perry, chair of the Concord Club near Dartford. Several models were brought along for demonstration purposes that included a Mk9 Scale Spitfire, SAS Wildthing, Dream flight Alula, Mini Q glider, balsa-built Riot, an electric glider and a drone.

Although footfall was low early morning it improved as the day progressed. There was some interest shown in the flight simulator by the younger element of the crowd and several ex-flyers came to the stand to reminisce about their flying history. During the afternoon interest picked up as the footfall increased. Several BMFA and club leaflets were handed out during the day to potential members.

In summary, a very good day but the weekend might be much better as more younger adults will be attending the show. Both Rob and I managed to get sunburnt, and we enjoyed eating out that included a bacon roll for breakfast followed by an Angus cheeseburger for lunch while watching the show jumping in the main arena. I must admit probably not the healthiest of diets.

My first post from the beautiful valleys of Wales - A perfect flying day in June

Hello all.

Just when you thought you had got rid off me and that's the last you would ever here from me again, I am back flying and sharing the love of RC glider flying.

For those that don't know I have left the sunny climbs of Sussex and moved to a lovely house near Swansea. I'm about an hour away from both 'The Bwlch' and a little nearer to Rhossili. Best of all I'm under an hour away from my old mate Ian Ashdown who lives near Llandovery.

Well I met up with Ian yesterday on a gloriously sunny day but with a SE - E wind which just like in Sussex it isn't the best wind direction for slope soaring. So Ian suggested a slope near Lampeter that he had not flown from so off we trotted to go slope hunting. It  involved some very narrow country lanes but we were greeted with a really nice open slope with parking and the most amazing view for probably 40 miles or so.

We didn't take many models with Ian bringing along hos scratch built 1981 design Boomerang and his NAN Shadow and I had my trusty old steed, the Ascot.

Below are a number of videos that we took from my phone that hopefully will give you a good taste of the amazing flying opportunities in Wales and the fantastic vista's up here.

Ian's Scratch built Boomerang

After the slope fun had finished we drove back to Ian's smallholding and enjoyed some DLG flying from his field and in a not to favorable wind conditions we both managed to climb away for some more flying to cap off a most wonderful days flying here in Wales.