BMPA History

2000 Summer Meeting, June 16-18, Shenington

The Summer meeting at Shenington was, as advertised, held from Friday 16th until Sunday 18th June. I am pleased to be able to report, as you will see below, much better weather than last year with 27 members and their guests attending, fourteen of them by air in seven aircraft. In addition a further two gave us the benefit of a slow, (in places very) low Tiger moth fly past on Sunday morning but found the crosswind more than they could cope with. The Jubilee meeting of the Shenington Kart Club was held next door but there were no balloons.

The first arrival was undoubtedly the President who flew from Coventry early on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately using a common glider frequency means that messages may land in the wrong ears and his landed in unfriendly if geographically remote ones. Concluding that the natives were hostile, he retreated to regroup at Wellesbourne and then made a further approach the following morning to find that far from ambuscade he and his party were welcome. The secretary arrived on wings of ply and fabric later on Friday. He knew the (human) natives to be friendly and therefore didn't try to talk to them. Our hosts had thoughtfully erected an electric fence to ward off cows, inveterately curious animals who will have the covering and paint off anything given the chance, and the secretarial ground party with dogs, camping bus and caravan got there shortly afterwards.

Five more ground borne attenders appeared on Friday and introduced us to a Thai restaurant in Banbury. The majority of the rest came on Saturday, a few on Sunday. Our choice of runways was limited by the go-kart event since stray launch cables from 16, the closest to the strongish wind, have in the past landed across the Karting area. However apart from to the Moth, this was not a major inconvenience and the sun shone mightily on our endeavours. All who wanted to go gliding, except one, were accommodated. The one was prevented by his own gravitas and bore the deprivation stoically. The balloons were again deterred by strong winds. Their ringleader was anyway otherwise engaged in national competition at Ludlow. Saturday's barbeque was entirely up to expectation (as far as I can remember) and the event was informal, cheap, and as far as I was concerned, fun.

Andrew Clymo

Another perspective

Sit back, relax and enjoy was the order of the day at the millennial Summer meeting. The members, families and friends rallied under a banner constructed especially for the occasion, which acted well as a meeting place to chat, greet friends or just view the proceedings. The weather was excellent with people reaching for their factor 25. The wind, although a little gusty, was straight down a runway. The weather was most definitely flyable and almost soarable. Four groups arrived by air on Saturday, and as many on Sunday. Trial glider flights were offered to all who put their name on the list, some coming back for seconds and thirds, suggesting that there may have been one or two converts to the no-engine style of flying. The launches were by aerotow as the wind direction was such as to preclude the cheaper winch launching because of the crowds at the go-kart race meeting on the adjoining track. Last Summer it was the BMPA who were karting round this track, and hopefully again soon?

On Saturday afternoon a small splinter group set off to explore the delights on offer further afield. A short drive found us at Upton House a National Trust property, open from 2-6pm. We partook of tea and scones on the lawn while listening to a wind ensemble playing jazz and then on to the painting and art on display inside the house which was just as delicious. The collection is one of the finest art collections assembled in England in the 20th century; heaven knows how much of the profits from "Shell" went into buying the stunning pictures which fill the house.

The Saturday evening bar-b-que lived up to the memories of last year, except this year we could eat outside and bask in the evening sunshine.

Unfortunately the go-kart race meeting meant that accommodation locally was difficult, only those organised souls who had booked well in advance or brought their own, secured a bed for the night.

Overall the weekend had a relaxed informal atmosphere, lots of time for chatting, renewing friendships and making new ones.

The BMPA should offer an enormous 'thank-you' to the members of Shenington Gliding Club who extended such a warm welcome to us, making us feel part of the scene. (Done - Secretary) I very much hope they will allow us to invade their Club again next year.

Janet Gibson, 24th July 2000