Ever flop down onto your sofa after a day on the airfield and promptly nod off? If so, thank you. You’re one of those members who does their fair share of pushing and pulling gliders, tractor, winch and retrieve car driving, hangar unpacking and packing, greeting and meeting, log keeping and a multitude of other gliding field tasks that result in accidental exercise: and it’s good for you, and your club.
The thing is though, if you tried to do that same amount of exercise at a gym, you’d most likely be bored out of your box, wouldn’t manage the same calorie burn, spend far more than it costs you to learn to fly a glider and vow never to set foot in such a place again.
For as long as I can remember, gliding clubs have always had trouble attracting new members. Even reading old gliding magazines dating back to the 1950s, it appears that the same problems of getting and retaining new members was a major concern and nothing seems to have changed. Are we doing it wrong? Should we sell ourselves as a form of happy exercise, oh, and by the way, you can learn to fly whilst you’re here? Who knows?
What I do know though, is after a full day on the airfield with like minded hardworking people and a few nice flights, I can flop onto my sofa and enjoy a massive guilt free dinner and one or two drinks, safe in the knowledge that I’ve left more than enough calories on the airfield and will be looking forward to the next visit.
Check out the Lincolnshire Gliding Club website to book an Air Experience Flight and come and get some accidental exercise which I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy.
