Thanks for the replies guys. Humberside is a little too far, about an hour's drive from here, I was looking at something closer although the thought of flying from a 'proper' airport would certainly be something I would consider to be an advantage. I flew into Humberside in a PA28 some years ago and was quite impressed with it TBH.
Whoppity what are the disadvantages of flying in a military club? The reason I ask is that I used to glide form Winthorpe at Newark, now sadly closed (If you ever got lost flying from Winthorpe then you really needed to hang up you goggles as it was right on the point of the A1, River Trent and a mainline railway.) and one day I took a punt up to Cranwell, about 15 minutes gliding away to check their club out. They have a fantastic fleet, cheap tow and winching etc which I thought was great, so I asked casually what the score was on joining. Instead of being enthusiastic about perhaps gaining a new member the general consensus seemed to be 'Why do you want to join?'
Er...because apart from Bicester this is the best equiped gliding club I've ever been to? I really didn't get what the problem was, some of the members there that day were downright rude and regardless of size of fleet and price I decided pretty quick that it wasn't the place for me. I also saw and heard an instructor tearing a strip off a guy who had landed long which I thought was totally out of order. The general feeling was one of hostility which has sort of put me off 'military' style clubs. I quickly scuttled back to Winthorpe were I appreciated the banter and friendliness a bit more from then on. Now obviously you can't tar them all with the same brush (I have to say that when I visited Bicester they were brilliant, and what a hangar full of kit they had, it was like opening the doors to heaven) but I'm wary.
I have a silver C and about 75 hours P1 in gliders so hopefully that might save me a few bob!
Last edited by thing; 11th Jul 2010 at 14:54.