May 4-6 2018
Camping: £7.50 per night and £2 electric hook-up
Eric's Barbecue and beer tent.
Camping.
Fly Parlick, Longridge and Pendle.
Pizza Night in the Sun Inn, Chipping Village.
Technical stuff in the Village hall.
Bring and buy Paragliding sale.
...... and an awful lot of Parabollocks!
Committee Members present: Graham Jones, Brian Stewart, Jim Ashley, Simon Blake, Richard Chadwick, Andy Archer, Carl Fairhurst, John Murphy, Andy Mcloughlin. Apologies received from Phil Wallbank and Tony Colombat.
Brief discussion of proposal to waive membership fees for children of members under the age of 18.
Agreed unanimously.
Brief discussion of proposal to award honorary membership with full voting rights to Lynda Baillie as a loyal supporter of the club.
Agreed unanimously.
End of Business.
The club has enjoyed a successful year - social nights have centred around Chipping with curry and pizza nights at the Sun. The Penninefest was rained off, but we still had a good turnout and an entertaining and educational talk from Ed Cleasby. The winter club nights have been well-attended, with plenty of new faces on show. Difficulties obtaining suitable venue still exist.
The club continues to function well and seems to be serving the needs of its members. The membership secretary was praised for his work identifying those pilots who are not BHPA members or not paying PSC correct fees. Phil Colbert was thanked for his work on the AirWhere project which should prove to be a great benefit to all members and the wider paragliding community.
Other prominent members include Jack Pimblett who is making amazing progress in the world of Acro; Simon Scott for his achievements as part of the British Paramotor Team; Simon Blake who has a new book out; Simon Baillie for his continued recovery to full fitness; Barney Woodhead for his XC performances and Richard Chadwick for his sterling work over the years as Treasurer.
Looking forward to 2017, highlights should be a proposed Club Coach weekend; development of the AirWhere network; more Club Nights; Penninefest etc. To achieve these aims, the support of the members is essential, and the club will be exploring ways to expand participation beyond the 1/3 of the membership who regularly get involved. Communication with members needs work, but this is a 2-way progress and it is important the people make contact with the club if they want information, coaching etc.
The Pendle webcam is still on course but has run into a siting obstacle.
Subscription receipts are significantly up, thanks in great part to the Membership Sec’s hard work in chasing up non-payers or those still paying £19; still some way to go to reel them all in, but the list is shrinking. Accounts accepted by the meeting. Richard is stepping down after 6 years in post, and we thank him for his hard work and diligence.
We currently have around 175 members, of whom 36 are still paying only £19 - a list is available so that members can encourage these remaining few to amend their standing order. Problems remain with contacting members when emails, phone calls, text messages and postal letters go unanswered. BHPA checks on current membership status can meet with resistance if requested too frequently. Helmet stickers will continue to be sent out to those requesting them.
Most competitions were washed out by bad weather this year, including all 5 rounds of the BP Cup, and the Advance BCC challenge suffered a similar fate in our area. The LCC and Buttermere Bash were surprisingly successful despite poor forecasts. PSC performance in the National XC League was a little short of previous glory years as the Southern Clubs enjoyed the good conditions down there.
Little outside communication beyond the routine. Main focus was the liaison with NWRAUG over the developments at LBIA. This has led to the creation of a new committee post - Airspace Officer - for which Phil Colbert has volunteered. The Secretary is standing down after 5 years, and thanks all the members for their support. Paul Hester has volunteered to stand for this position.
There have been no accidents or incidents involving members reported to the Safety Officer this year, although this does not mean that there were no reportable incidents. It is worth noting that one member was involved in an incident (reported correctly to the BHPA) involving a car being written off. It is comforting to note that the process of dealing with the expense of compensating the car owner was dealt with very efficiently by the BHPA insurers - a very good reason to be a member.
The Safety Officer is standing down this year, and the club is very grateful for the important contribution made over the years. Brian Stewart has put himself forward for this post.
The newsletter has been absent for a few months - initially due to a lack of material, and then as an experiment to judge the reaction of the members. The feeling of the meeting was that the newsletter is an important communication tool, and so will be re-started this year. Members were urged to contribute to this as much as possible. Improvements to the database of members’ addresses should make it possible to ensure that it is delivered effectively.
This has been a quiet year on the coaching scene. We have moved to a bi-annual cycle of Pilot Theory lectures to fit more closely with demand. Coaches can now receive their annual endorsement by email, which makes it much easier to remain current. New BHPA resources to support new pilots and their coaches will make the process of progressing from CP much clearer to all. Some discussion centred around the possibility of winter coaching sessions in the village hall, and competition preparation.
While there are few Power pilots in the club, the Power Sec’s role is to act as a contact point to anyone wishing to fly paramotors or powered hang gliders to go about this the correct way, in safety. The site at Eddisford Bridge is available to all, by contacting the PO. While the pilot fatally injured last year was not a PSC member, he was known to many and our condolences go out to his family and friends. BHPA are investigating, despite his not being a member.
There have been no issues involving sub-20 wings this year. Members are encouraged to report any instances of unqualified or non-BHPA persons flying any kind of aircraft on our sites to report those to relevant club officers.
All positions were offered to the membership. Apart from those mentioned above volunteering to fill vacancies, no nominations were received. Consequently all posts were filled unopposed and carried unanimously.
Chairman Graham Jones
Social Sec Graham Jones
Secretary Paul Hester
Membership Sec Jim Ashley
Treasurer Jim Ashley (combined post)
Safety Officer Brian Stewart
Sites Officer Andy Archer
Webmaster Carl Fairhurst
Editor Tony Colombat
Competition Sec Simon Blake
Chief Coach John Murphy
Sub-20 Officer Andy McLoughlin
Airspace Officer Phil Colbert (new post).
The Competition Secretary presided over an entertaining award ceremony in which not only the winners were acknowledged, but also the ‘honourable mentions’ and the ‘nearly theres’.
Best Fun Class John Baxby
Best Sports Class Simon Blake
Best XC from Pennine Site Phil Colbert
PSC League Winner Phil Colbert
Grid Challenge Simon Baillie
Most Improved Pilot John Oliver
Club Award Jack Pimblett
Representing the Club Simon Scott
William Marshall Trophy Andy Archer
Main Welding Award (Bent Upright) Simon Blake
PSC Loop League winner Paul Winterbottom.
A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended to make a memorable night. Now let’s go flying . . .
It’s that time of year when the AGM is upon us once again, yes, of course you’ve got more interesting stuff to do like change the cat litter, but have a think about what this means:
We live in an increasingly surveilled and officially-controlled world, so continuing to enjoy the freedom of our form of flight means being self-regulating within a recognised structure. Love 'em or hate 'em, the BHPA is our structure and PSC is an important component of that, and membership gives you access to that framework. To remain a functioning part of this whole, there are endless background tasks to fulfil: maintaining records of members and their qualification levels, administering the cash that flows in and out, keeping track of safety issues, liaising with relevant bodies over site access and dealing with complaints . . . you get the picture.
A looming threat on the horizon is the proposed expansion of the Leeds Bradford International Airport controlled airspace. The initial plans could severely curtail our options for XC flights towards the east coast, and are a threat to our fellow pilots in the Dales, Cumbria and Derbyshire. To this end we are going to create a new committee post of Airspace Officer to monitor developments and liaise with BHPA, CAA, the General Aviation and Gliding community and our neighbour clubs. This is the kind of background work that is essential to maintain our ability to enjoy our most unique and wonderful sport(s).
To carry out this work needs willing volunteers from the membership; we call this group 'the committee' but really they are simply members who are putting a bit back into our sport - sometimes remaining in post year after year because no-one else is daft enough to do it. Every year, all members of the club are offered the opportunity to offer their services; the following list shows the present members of the committee in case you don't know who they are, together with an indication of their intention to stand for re-election, nominations received to date, and a brief summary of what they do, in their own words, in addition to what it says in the constitution and BHPA documents:
Position
Name
Standing again?
Nominations
Duties
Webmaster
Carl Fairhurst
Yes
Responsible for managing the hosting, application and content of the Pennine Soaring Club website and the domain registration. Working with the other member of the committee to ensure that content and events are posted promptly and available to be linked from emails or Facebook.
Secretary
Brian Stewart
No
Paul Hester
Maintaining a written record of meetings, correspondence with third parties, legal documents and proceedings. Being the focal point for external bodies communicating with PSC.
Chairman
Graham Jones
Yes
Coordinating and chairing committee meetings,
Sites Officer
Andy Archer
Yes
Building and maintaining relationships with our site owners, tenant farmers, statutory bodies; in fact anybody who has an interest in the land we launch from, fly above or land on. Quickly dealing with issues that could escalate into the potential for losing a site and being a single point of contact for site issues for those interested parties and club members alike.
MembershipSec
Jim Ashley
Yes
Keep and update membership data base using information from treasurer / online bank. Contact members when subs due or overdue / incorrect. Check members BHPA membership up to date. Contact / welcome new members - distribute helmet stickers.
Social Sec
Graham Jones
Arranger of club and social nights.
Chief Coach
John Murphy
Yes
a) Organise and co-ordinate coaching within their club.
b) Provide information, guidance and help in a safe, proven manner to club pilots qualified for the activity undertaken.
c) Encourage pilots to use the club coaching facility through promotion and education.
d) Establish and maintain an effective coaching team within the club.
e) Establish and maintain an effective liaison with the Club Safety Officer
f) Supervise and monitor the development of potential coaches, and select and appoint
Club Coaches and Senior Coaches.
g) Operate safely within their known skills and personal environments in accordance
with the recognised procedures and regulations contained in the TM.
h) Improving their own flying and coaching skills and knowledge in various ways, including studying the TM, handbooks, articles in Skywings (especially the Safety Matters Page) and Incident Summaries and Safety Notices.
i) Promote the use of the Incident reporting scheme within the club.
j) Maintain and promote a positive attitude to the sport, the FSC and the BHPA.
k) Maintain an effective liaison with the FSC. Chief Coaches should have regular contact with the FSC, and in particular they should keep the FSC fully informed of new ideas or any difficulties occurring in their clubs.
l) Organise and supervise pilot exams and lectures.
In addition, to become a chief coach the BHPA advise that the candidate should be:
a) Hold a Senior Coach or Club Coach Licence.
b) Possess P rating with good active experience.
c) Be recommended by his/her club. (Chairman’s signature required.)
Treasurer
Richard Chadwick
No
Bank and keep a spreadsheet record of all receipts paid to the club (income) and pay and record all the bills (expenses like site fees, comp fees, website fees and trophies etc.).
Produce a set of annual accounts to present to members at the AGM.
Organise and deliver the Christmas bottle run to the farmers and residents most affected by our sites.
Safety Officer
Phil Wallbank
No
Brian Stewart
Act as the local technical officer. Disseminate Safety Notices and information within the club. Act as a technical reference source within the club. Support the coaching team in their efforts to ensure that accidents and incidents within the club are reported to the FSC. Maintain, through a programme of continuous education and encouragement, an awareness of flying and technical safety standards within the club.
Competition Sec
Simon Blake
Yes
Coordinating all aspects of local and UK competition, supporting and encouraging Pennine pilots to push their flying to the next level by setting targets and flying competitively: scoring the Parlick Grid Challenge, setting and scoring competition tasks at, liaising with the organisers of the BP Cup, liaising with neighbouring club Comps Secs to arrange rounds of the Advance BCC when possible, promoting XC league flying and especially declared flights by helping pilots plan, fly and submit their tracklogs to the league.
Editor
Tony Colombat
Yes
Current: Produce the monthly newsletter, coordinating input from members, BHPA, advertisers etc.
Proposed: Disseminate this information across PSC webpage and Social Media.
Power Sec
Simon Scott
Yes
Provide a PSC point of contact for Paramotor and Powered HG pilots who fly within the Pennine Club area or are PSC members who wish to also fly PPG/PHG. Liaise with pilots in local groups/clubs to attempt to mutually promote powered and free flight foot launched aviation, the PSC and the BHPA. Promote the PSC as an inclusive club that power pilots can be part of.
Airspace Officer
New post
Phil Colbert
Liaise with BHPA, CAA, neighbouring clubs, General Aviation and Gliding community etc. regarding all airspace matters affecting our members.
Just because there's a name against a post doesn't mean you can't volunteer for it - most of us will be happy to step aside to allow in fresh blood. No matter whether you've amassed hundreds of hours or are still counting your airtime in minutes, if you want to get involved and give something back to our fabulous sport, just put yourself forward. So if you think this is for you then to nominate yourself for any post please send an email to secretary@penninesoaringclub.org.uk before 31st January 2017. Voting to decide any contested positions will take place at the AGM.
Extract from Club Constitution:
3.1 The AGM shall be held between February and May
3.2 Reasonable notice of the AGM shall be given to members and the following business shall be discussed.
Re Item 3.2, any member wishing to propose an item for discussion must submit it to the secretary (secretary@penninesoaringclub.org.uk) by 31st January 2017.
So, the AGM is an important instrument in the operation of the PSC and, by extension, free flight in the UK. Thus it is your chance to question the committee members on past actions and propose ways in which you feel the club could progress,
Be there.
Brian Stewart
Secretary
What's in a name? Parafest? Penninefest? Whatever, the annual PSC piss-up fly-in gave the weather gods the opportunity to throw their worst at us. Again. Somebody must have made the right sacrifices somewhere as the strong winds that had us worrying about the marquee carrying us all on a mass XC never arrived. All we got was some rain. Lots of it. All day Saturday.
Friday
The working party assembled promptly at 9AM in the showground to put up the marquee. All went smoothly - Field Marshal Winterbottom's directions to the erection team included orders that all upright members were to be fully inserted and rammed home with powerful thrusts. Then he went round checking them anyway. Group Captain Jones offered advice and guidance and even managed not to get in the way too much. Air Vice Marshall Wood carefully carried in the beer kegs and connected the pipes, and once General Innes's barbecue was in place, we were good to go, amusing ourselves getting Wing Commander Scott's monkey bike as muddy as possible.
Aviation was committed by those with the foresight not to sample the amber liquids too early. The Wing Commander manfully carried up his hang glider and showed how it's done, while a couple of brave souls launched their floppy, flappy things - Air Commodore Maxwell even scraping into the show field with a low pass over the Brickhouse Caravan site (the bill for removing the boot prints from my caravan roof is in the post, Billy). Back in the field, tents were put up, caravans and motorhomes sited and beer was drunk.
Saturday
The day dawned grey and evolved into wet as well. So no change from normal Penninefest weather then. Fortunately we had the Chipping village hall booked for bad weather contingency, and Ed Cleasby had graciously offered to switch roles from comp meet head to motivational speaker. While nobody in the room bought his protests of being 'only an ordinary pilot', Ed delivered an inspiring lecture/talk/discussion focussed on getting out of the comfort zone of local hills without the hassle of going abroad for adventures. His presentation - Flying in Scotland (Subtitled Broadening Horizons - You don't have to leave the UK to get the best flying in the world) was aimed at encouraging recent pilots to experience new places and conditions to expand their experience. Ed reckons we have the best diversity of conditions in the world and illustrated this with a sample of flights which left a lasting impression.
Tinto - one of his favourites, can be busy in a good forecast but promising a high cloudbase, good air. Important to be aware of the proliferating wind farms and the wide open spaces.
Sron a Gharbh Choire Bhig (HRA) NW Highlands. This was an adventure flight across Loch Shiel from Loch Linnhe. Plenty of intimidating wildernesses on this route unless you know where the roads are.
Carn Liath, Cairngorms. This was in the N-S Cup and the first time Ed had flown across the Cairngorms. A big walk in, even before climbing up to takeoff near the high summit, required a lot of commitment, given 7/8 cloud, almost no wind and just a small patch of sunshine. Dramatic improvement got everyone away to cross some of the most intimidating terrain in the UK. Phil Wallbank told of 4 hour walk out and of Mike Cav's low save when he frightened a herd of deer into releasing a thermal. Ed flew to Aviemore and along the Spey valley, happy at last to follow a road with big fields.
White Corries gives an easy approach via a chair lift. This was an early attempt at a triangle, crossingmagnificent scenery again, but a big storm just after landing was a reminder of the need to keep watching conditions in the big stuff.
There were even quizzes and tasks to keep us awake amused:
Part 1 This was 'Name the Sites'. 4 photos of UK sites, and name the odd one out & why. Only 3 pilots guessed even 1 out of of the 4, and to our shame, one of them was Pendle. Commander Baillie (Parachute Regiment) got the tie breaker, so won an instrument bag.
Part 2. Identifying six Manufacturer logos. Commander Baillie was on top of this too, getting 4 out of 6, but everyone else had a real life and hardly knew any, so Simon won the windsock as well.
Task: Navigation task to set up a route from turnpoints was a great lead-in to the afternoon's session focussing on instruments and how to use them.
Thanks so much Ed, for sharing your insights into paragliding and how to get the most out of it. I'm certainly inspired to get out among new surroundings.
Saturday evening saw the straw floor in the marquee disappearing into the mud. The recently-demoted Flight Sergeant Wallbank (decommissioned for insubordination: suggesting to the Group Captain that the curry night was an indulgence too far) remained on camp sentry duty to guard the bar. He and his loyal band of followers had the arduous task of sampling the beer every few minutes to ensure it remained drinkable. It's a tough job. . .
34 or so (including a scattering of WaGs) enjoyed an excellent curry (or vegetarian alternative) in the Sun, in the new Swallow's Nest extension. A great night had by all, which continued into the show field where the General's pyrotechnics kept all amused. A ton of wood disappeared into the firepits - apparently the IPCC have since issued warnings of a sudden spike in CO2 emissions and a 1 degree global temperature rise.
Sunday dawned with clearing skies, but even the most 'glass-half-full' optimistists couldn't predict any aviation today. Many hands made light work of taking down the marquee and clearing the field. Big thanks to everyone involved in rescuing what could have been a soggy disaster and turning it into another successful event; after all there are worse ways to spend a wet weekend in Lancashire. Special mention for the General - delivering the barbecue, firepits and pyrotechnics; the Air Vice Marshall for sorting the beer and the bar; Squadron Leader Ashley for taking the muddy marquee home to wash and dry; the Group Captain for fretting about everything - ensuring that it was all in place beforehand;
Well done all.
Private (2nd Class) Stewart
