Potential conflict near gliding sites.

[snapper1]

Please can you help me to understand why some light aircraft and particularly helicopter pilots fly quite so close to my gliding club? An example; yesterday, midday I was about to launch when a helicopter flew roughly east-west at less than 1,000ft above airfield height, a quarter of a mile to the south of our field. About two hours later, while I was airborne at about 2,000ft, a helicopter flew directly beneath me, a few hundred feet below. It looked like the aircraft that I’d seen earlier and it was on the reciprocal track. The airfield has been in existence for many years and is marked as a gliding site on half mil and quarter mil charts. We all have equal right to be there - there is no question of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, just one of, ‘what is sensible’? On most days, within a radius of a mile or so of the field, there are likely to be a number of gliders flying at around 1,000 to 1,500ft. These will include training aircraft and early solo single-seaters as well as cross country pilots returning to our site. It happens occasionally and so we are very alert to the sound of approaching aircraft. We stop launching if we think one is getting too close. Would it not be a good idea for powered aircraft to give gliding sites a wider berth to minimise the potential for conflict?