The Cotswold Gliding Club celebrated its 60th anniversary this year having been formed in 1964. Based on the beautiful and expansive Aston Down Airfield the club boasts some of the best gliding facilities in the country. It is just a short drive away from Stroud and has over 150 members of all ages who meet regularly to practise their gliding skills.
Age is no barrier and when the Stroud News and Journal went along on a bright crisp autumn day, they met glider pilots aged 14 to 88. Gliding instructor Dan Hayday took Matt Holmes up for a glider flight to show him what thrills can be had from flying high above the Five Valleys and beyond. Dan, 25, lives in North Devon and drives up to Stroud as it has some of the best airspace and countryside.
He explained that we would be flying at between 2,500 – 3,000 feet up above Gloucestershire. “If those thermal updrafts are rising and we find them, we can go as far up as they take us, sometimes to over 10,000 feet,” said Dan. Once in the air the scenery is truly beautiful and exhilarating at the same time.
There is a small joystick which you can touch gently and it will take you up, down, to the left and to the right along with dials which measure your speed, altitude and whether you are climbing or dropping. Cotswold Gliding Club has 31 gliding instructors and around 100 gliders most of which are privately owned with nine club aircraft. Gliders cost around £150,000 to £250,000 to buy new, although a share in an older one can be.