The gliding A badge proves that you survived your first solo. Nothing more. The Bronze C is effectively your licence at present (but European regulation is about to change that).
You will not be allowed to fly out of gliding range of your airfield until you have the Bronze C and Cross Country endorsement (which proves that you know something about air law etc and have a reasonable chance of landing a glider in a field without damage to yourself or the glider.
Effectively you are "hiring" a club glider every time you fly it, but within the limitations above. Certainly you wouldn't be allowed to take one off site without a Bronze C etc. The Chief Flying Instructor's word is law, no right of appeal.
Flying friends, family etc. varies considerably between clubs and is at Chief Flying Instructor's discretion. Bronze would certainly be a minimum requirement and some clubs do not allow flying non-pilots (or even flying with another pilot) unless you have some form of instructor rating.
Last edited by astir 8; 7th Sep 2013 at 16:18.