Last time I checked there was a total lack of accommodation available at Predannack, though they could bed down in the control tower I suppose. Or, as Shelter Box has a training facility onsite maybe they could make use of some of the charity's surplus boxes? The whole saga could be classed as a disaster, after all.

Accommodation being 'provided' apparently..... whatever that means

Arc

Predannack Survives
 

Whilst the Predannack (surviving) looks good in practice what you get is a facility miles away from centres of population and with poor transport links.
It ticks the conventional gliding box well due to its size and multiple directions availability, but needs accommodation and closer tech back up.
It would make sense if it could also be used as a base for week courses with staff from other areas running it (like the old Halesland operation) if of course the staff actually exist by then.This would at least make better utilisation of the facility and give a better return on any money spent.

Norwich Airspace Confliction with Swanton Morley
 

I think that Norwich ATC will have an issue (probably with respect to IFR approach and arrival procedures) when they are operating RW09. No doubt this will be a point of discussion that will need to be concluded prior to any decision to move a VGS into Swanton Morley.

Opportunity for 614 VGS at Wethersfield?
 

A new 'mega prison' could be built on Wethersfield MOD site in Braintree and Tendring (From Braintree and Witham Times)

If the option for a prison was to go ahead and it was to be built in the right place then that might pave the way for all or part of the airfield to be retained for the VGS. Even a sizeable prison would need only a relatively small portion of the MDP Wethersfield estate. A prison might even be contained in the area away from the airfield. An idea anyway, and a compromise solution.

Don't hold your breathe. Same as Watton and look what happened there; Wayland Prison..... And they still sold off the remaining land.

They need to look further into the future and build for the future. Personally, hubs with overnight accom and concurrent activities are the way forward.

Peg

The prision at Wayland was build donkeys years before the airfield site was closed. RAF Watton was open even when the Prison was open and the Prison does not encroach on the airfield site.

RAF Watton closed because the Radar facility was no longer required (superceded) and the Watton Airfield site was sold because DIO wanted to sell it (simple as that). Actually the main users of the site (apart from the VGS) was USAF C-130 traffic (rough field and unprepared strip training for which they provided their own fire engine !!) from Mildenhall. Some para jumping and some rotary wing traffic (minimal). USAF said they had no real further use for it and bingo............... airfield sold (with undue haste and for well under what it was worth).

I expect that Wethersfield will 'do a Coltishall' and build a prison, some houses and bit of light industrial on the site. The requirement for a VGS site means nothing to DIO or the Treasury................

Arc

Regional hubs may be the answer, but where are they going to build the overnight accommodation? Who are they going to get to staff the accommodation? Who is going to prepare the meals these cadets are going to eat?

If it is anticipated this burden will fall to the VGS staff, then I would suggest there would be fewer and fewer staff. Has this idea been fully thought through or are the powers that be just working on the assumption that volunteers will be only too willing to help out with a greater workload...

To my mind, the only via option for the VGS organisation to work with a reduced footprint is to move to permanent, paid staff in key roles, and supplemented with volunteers.

Thorr

Like the ACF do now you mean :} ??

Arc

(P.S. Seems to work)

Regional Centres may well be coming, however the concern I have is that, in order to maximise the weekend it is likely that travel on the Friday evening will be required. This raises the issue of squadron staff, having worked a full day at their day job, being required to transport cadets to a VGS that could be a couple of hours drive away (for some). There are implication for Drivers Hours with this approach that I am unsure have been considered.

Travelling Distances to Swanton Morley for (Volunteer) Staff
 

Travelling distances to Swanton Morley for 614 VGS staff would be a real issue if this relocation option were to be taken (they are all volunteers not regulars, and while very committed there is a limit to what you can reasonably expect). Most of them live too far away (half more than a two hour drive away) to make regular attendance at Swanton Morley a realistic prospect.

614 VGS (good luck to them) needs to somehow retain these volunteer staff if it is to deliver anything approaching the required capability/output as a 'regional centre'. It is important that someone seriously considers staff retention in the selection of a new operating site.

Why leave on a Friday night to drive a couple of hours to a Regional Hub? How do you think some sqns travel at present to an AEF, Kent Wing to 5 AEF for example; more than 2 hours already......

Pegasus hi, see you point, it's little different from the local squadron having a 2hour drive to Cranwell for AEF. However to maximise the VGS time I suspect some sqns may go the night before. If Swanton Morley gets reactivated then fine, if not then its likely that a trip to Syreston for East Anglian (and wider) based units, will be required hence my earlier suggestion. Happy to be proved wrong though;)

brokenlink,

I think you would find that if the Swanton Morley option were to be taken then it would be numbers of 614 VGS staff who were realistically able to attend on a regular basis (or attend at all) that would have by far the biggest impact on output.

Perhaps there is a better option than Swanton Morley - to cut down travelling distances for cadets and staff alike.

ATFQ - if that was to happen, it would have been easier to change numberplate from 614 VGS to 611 VGS ;-)

An even better answer of course would be to have a 611 VGS and a 614 VGS, at two different sites.

But any arrangement needs to maximise staff availability/attendance if the Air Cadet gliding organisation is to be able to get the most out of the gliders it will have at some point in the future.

It was fun while it lasted - hello BGA

I see that Rissy is NOTAM'd as a winch launch site with effect from 4th March so I guess gliding will start fairly soon.

645 VGS flew their first cadets since "the pause" today.