Thanks, Neil, for your correction, and congrats on achieving 2,500! we are jealous! usually our launches wimp out at 1,200 at Shenington, but with a NW wind on the ridge there is help at hand....
At our club, a while back, a person answered the clubhouse phone and told a heli that it was OK to call on the radio for permission. So he phoned the next day, got no answer, called on the radio, assumed no traffic, and took off directly in the path of a K8 glider on approach.
The K8 pilot, on early solo, had just managed to soar for more than 5 hours, and he didn't have a radio. He had to take avoiding action.
We filed an airmiss.