Another wintry day at AD, but the rallying cry of Tony Parker, CFI was answered and there were plenty of people out braving the cold this weekend. I can't wax lyrical about Saturday 'cos I wasn't there. But today, Sunday, the valiant Tony Chapman arrived shortly after dawn to get the bus and winch out. A contingent of seven UWE students then turned up and (shock, horror, gasp) actually made themselves very useful, while remaining true to the 'yoof' tradition of dressing inappropriately and shivering a lot! The first launch was shortly after 10 am, not bad considering the conditions and the fact that we were operating from the South end of 03/21. Soon the students were running the whole show, controlling the lights, holding the wings and doing the signalling. Fair play to them and thanks to all the members who showed them how to and for supervising.

Alas, aerial play was brought to a cruel and early end as the cloud base lurched suddenly downwards, making the last few flights little more than hops followed by straight in approaches. Robin Davenport was 'winter refreshed' by Richard Kill with a couple of tasty simulated cable breaks. Richard Cawsey demonstrated nerves of steel for a late five minute epic flight through the gloom and -earlier - one of the students was actually naive enough to incur a minute's worth of soaring fees!

There was much pleasant chattering and banter. Thanks to White Echo team and the instructors for making it possible ...

Eugene