2025: A record year for the club
2025 was an incredible year for our members with the club itself breaking some of its previous records.
The club was recognised as one of the top five fastest growing clubs in the country last year with 19 new members joining us, our best performance for many years.
Please read about some of what we did in 2025. If you like the sound of the club and want to know more, then please click on the link below for details of our 2026 Spring offer, where you can become a member from as little as £22.50 per month by joining between January and March this year, for a membership lasting until March 2027..
Freddie Turner in July at 26 years old, become the youngest UK pilot to fly 1,000 kilometres in one flight (1007.6k at 98.3 kph average speed) and on the day put him at the top of the British Gliding Association ladder.
Navboys interview with Freddie can be found with this link https://youtu.be/er0ipglYDjs?si=0qV6aozEOVVRdVW_
Jordan Johnson, another club member and a junior, managed a difficult 750 kilometre flight along the South Coast. Jordan has been top of the British Gliding Association’s Junior Ladder and awarded the prestigious Phil Lever trophy as “Most Promising Junior Pilot”. Since then Jordan is at the top of the BGA ladder, with the highest number of points ever scored by any plot in the history of gliding.
Max Miller joined the club quite recently. His love of flying meant that in 2025 he obtained his Bronze, Silver and Gold Badges in one year and also completed his training for his Introductory Flight Pilot (IFP) rating which will enable him to fly visitors to the club
Max Miller just after completing his 300K task
John Scott is one of our Power Pilots. In 2025 he entered a pylon flying competition. You can read about it here => https://www.bidfordglidingandflyingclub.co.uk/blog/pylon-racing
John’s lovely “DOTY” being refuelled.
Lee Balthazor, another Power Pilot, continued his work as chair of the FALCON 2 programme. The programme brings together young people aged 6-19 to design, develop and build a real-life mobile flight simulator which will travel to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) schools and public events around the UK to introduce people from all backgrounds to the wonder of flight.
Paul Kaye, treasurer at the club, also aimed for long distance tasks, demonstrating just how far our members go around the country from Bidford.
Competitions: many of our members participated in regionals and national competitions based at Bidford and other clubs across the country
Diversity: Last year we held our second Women’s Gliding Weekend. It was fully booked and resulted in women joining the club to learn to fly, across the age range. Below is a clip made by Kim, one of the attendees.
Tugging: Its a team effort to get the results the club achieves, so there is a big thank you to our power aircraft members, who give up their time to spend their day towing gliders into the skies above us. Below are some of the members who “tugged” for us last year
Technical Services: The club would not function without the help of some dedicated club members. Whilst many members assist, the core work is delivered by Allan Wallace, Allan Bain, Chris Morris and Barry Kerby. These members keep the gliders, buildings and facilities maintained in cold and difficult conditions to ensure we have a working fleet of 5 club gliders for both students and approved pilots.
Instruction: Our instructors have been working hard supporting our pilots with their initial training and progression after solo, and we’d like to thank them all for their dedication in a very busy season. For a relatively small club, we’ve achieved a lot. One pilot (Max) obtained his Bronze, Silver and Gold Badges in one year and also completed his training for his Introductory Flight Pilot (IFP) rating which will enable him to fly visitors to the club. Other trainee pilot achievements include three solos, seven Bronze badges, four cross-country endorsements, two Silver heights and three Sailplane Pilot Licences. A former instructor at another club (Chris) has also joined us and has renewed his IFP rating.
Our Junior support continues. Last year one member achieved silver height and Full bronze, another achieved full Bronze and a third completed his Bronze theory.
Café: Under the excellent management of Karen Spicer, the café has continued to grow in 2025. When asked about what records the café broke last year, Karen’s first thought was the Biker Event. Around 350 bikers met at the club, where the café put on a burger and hot dog afternoon. The event culminated in a late afternoon experience flight for those who wished.
