I learned to fly at Sherburn a few years back, and it was a great place. But even as a PPL student, I became aware of political games going on in the background, which appear to have ruined the club and resulted in the loss of some great people from the place.
So I popped in for a coffee and a bite to eat about two months ago on a Saturday afternoon to see if the place had improved, so that I might consider rejoining. I had my 8 year old son with me.
What I found confirmed that nothing had changed, in fact it had got worse. The place was dead, except for a group of individuals sat around with one individual talking in a manner which I found quite alarming. They were saying something along the lines of, "once I've decided something, that's it, nobody is going to change my mind and people will have to do what I say". I didn't get the full gist of the conversation, but it was certainly associated with the running of the club.
Even worse was the fact that I got the distinct impression that I was being 'watched' and fully expected to be thrown out of the place for not being a member at any moment, which was reinforced when I read the comments about what happened at the PFA rally.
Had I been asked to leave, I was going to say that I was looking around the club and taking in the atmosphere with a view to (re)joining the club, but I'm not sure if that would have worked.
Such a shame, as the place has some great staff and characters knocking about.