Stratford on Avon Gliding Club: About The Club

We're a Members' Club, which means that the club is run by the members for the members. This helps to keep Costs down, and it also means that there is a good social side to everything we do.

On flying days, we all need to help each other to get into the air, and there are lots of things that need to be done, such as holding wings, retrieving gliders, signalling, driving the winch, and so on.

This means that a flying day is never boring, but it does also mean that you can't expect to just turn up, fly, and go home, because the Club doesn't work that way (some other clubs do, and this tends to be reflected in their costs).

We fly seven days a week during the summer season from May to September, weekends and Thursdays during the rest of the year, weather permitting.

The formal details about the Club as a company are on our Contacts page.

The Members

We have about 110 Full Flying members, most of whom fly regularly. They come from all walks of life, and range in age from 16 to over 80. About 15% are women, though we haven't yet worked out why the percentage is so low, and we have two Disabled members.

Gliding is for just about everyone who has the time and the inclination, and we welcome anyone who is interested in joining us in our favourite hobby.

The Fleet

We have four two-seater training aircraft

and three single-seaters

There are about 25 privately-owned aircraft at Snitterfield, most of them syndicated between three or four pilots. They range from new modern aircraft such as LS8s, to vintage aircraft such as an Eagle, a Dart 17, and a T21. Several of our members are also members of the Vintage Glider Club. There are some pictures of some of these in our Photo Gallery.

The Site

We fly from a grass field near Snitterfield, three miles north of Stratford-on-Avon.

The site is flat, and we depend mainly on thermals for soaring flights. The site is also large, about 100 acres and nearly a mile at its longest, as well as being about 40ha and nearly 1½km at its longest. Because of these factors, it doesn't present any particular difficulties for novice pilots.

There are maps here if you need to find us, either By Road or By Air.

The Launch

At Snitterfield, we only use winches to launch our gliders. We don't use aerotow at all, because it's expensive and noisy. We have a modern purpose-built Winch, and we typically achieve a launch height of 1300 to 1700 feet, depending on the wind.

The People

The Club Chair is John Dickinson, the Club CFI is Steve Brown, the Club Secretary is Andy Balkwill, and the Club Membership Secretary is Richard Maksymowicz.

Those among us who have email addresses are listed on the Contacts page.

The Pub

We don't have a bar on site, so we wind down after a day's flying in one of the local pubs, the Snitterfield Arms in Snitterfield or Golden Cross in Bearley.

The Area

If you're not familiar with the area, Stratford has a web site which tells you a lot, both about the area and what's going on.

Most of the places that they refer to, from the Cotswolds to the Malverns to Warwick Castle, are visible from the air over Snitterfield on any reasonably clear day.