AN EXCITING schedule of Saturday evening talks are set to come to the Lasham Gliding Society this winter.

The events will run most Saturdays, starting at bonfire night and running until Easter, most events will be free of charge unless stated otherwise.

Saturday talks will usually commence at 6pm and will be held in the Brown Elephant briefing room, Lasham Gliding Society, Lasham Airfield.

Saturday 28 October  – Lasham’s traditional bonfire party and firework display. The bonfire will be lit at 6pm and the firework display will commence soon after 19:00. Entrance will be free for members but a small charge of £2 each or £5 for a family will be made to non-members. Food and drink will be available.

Saturday 4 November – Dr. Martin Kellet will present a talk about Aerial Archaeology. Martin is an aeronautical engineer who also flies light aircraft and has a passion for archaeology. He has flown and photographed much of the Wessex landscape and has been the project pilot for a number of historic landscape research projects.

Saturday 11 November – Two events on this evening. At 18:00 Charles Elsden will present a video show of some of the very good video work he has done around Lasham and at 18:30 our caterers, the Golden Glider have arranged a wine tasting quiz with top prizes Quiz entry with roast supper included will cost £19.99. The quiz and dinner is a ticketed event and tickets will be available from the Golden Glider folks at Lasham’s on site restaurant.

Saturday 18 November – Lasham Gliding Society Open meeting – This event is for LGS members only and will commence at 1600 hours.

Saturday 25 November – “Turbulents, Tiger Moths and display flying” - a talk by Jon Bastin on the good work that he does as a member of the Turbulent team, This is the team who kicked off the aerobatic display at the opening of the European Championships last August.

Saturday 2 December – The Diamond Light source. Dr David Allan, who is a member will tell us about the Diamond Synchrotron at Harwell. This is that circular building near Didcot. Pilots may wonder what goes on there and this will be your chance to find out.

Saturday 9 December – A talk by Graeme Gow from the Air Accident Investigations Branch on the good work done by the AAIB.

Saturday 16 December - Lasham’s traditional Christmas dining in night. Members and guests are welcome. This will be a ticketed event and bookings will be taken by the Golden Glider nearer the time.

Saturday 23 December – No Lasham event will be planned.

Saturday 30 December – No Lasham event will be planned.

Sunday 1 January 2018 – Traditional New Years Day Charity “Fun” Run/Walk/Stagger /swagger around the peri track. Arranged by Marjorie Hobby in aid of “Canine Partners” charity. Meet at the Clubhouse for an 11:00 AM start.

Saturday 6 January 2018 – We start off the new year evening talks with another talk by retired Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Stickler on historical murders in the 20th Century and before. Paul’s talk was very well attended in previous years and this is the next episode. More info on Paul's excellent web site: www.historicalmurders.com.

Saturday 13 January – A talk on Autogyros and flying them by Steve Boxall.

Saturday 20 January – A talk on the Cameron Balloon around the world flight by Cameron’s Chief Engineer, Dave Boxall.

Saturday 27 January – An event is planned and will be advised in due course.

Saturday 3 Febuary – A talk by Nik Christides on London Taxis, the knowledge and London oddities. Nik is half of the Golden Glider and is our head chef at Lasham. Before he moved into catering, many will not know that Nik was a London Cabbie.

Saturday 10 Febuary – Two videos presented by Glyn Bradney. The first is about Anne Welch OBE, who took a prominent role in the development of British Gliding. The second was made in the late 1960s and is called “gliders in the sky”.

Saturday 17 Febuary – Flight over Germany – Flt Lt Russell ‘Rusty’ Waughman DFC – A chance to hear first-hand from a WW2 Lancaster Veteran. Flight Lieutenant Russell "Rusty" Waughman was just 20 years-old when he flew his first sortie during the Battle of Berlin in 1943. Rusty is an excellent speaker and has some eye-opening stories of what it was actually like to defend our isle during WW2.

Saturday 24 Febuary – Lasham Gliding Society Annual General Meeting. This event will be for LGS members only.

Saturday 3 March – A talk by Steve Markham on his 7/8th scale replica Spitfire aircraft. Steve lives locally to Lasham and has built and operates his Spitfire from a private strip near RAF Odiham.

Saturday 10 March – Hamilcars Horsas and Hotspurs as well as some others. Glyn Bradney will tell us about military gliding operations and military gliders from 1940 to 1945.

Saturday 17 March – A talk on Army aviation by our General Manager, Gavin Spink. Before he became GM at Lasham, Gavin was a senior pilot in the Army.

Saturday 24 March –A classical guitar recital by Jane Nash and some friends. Jane is a member at Lasham and a highly accomplished guitar player. If you did not manage to hear her play last year, this is one not to be missed!

Saturday 31 March – A talk by Hugh Browning on Gliding accidents and their avoidance. Many will know of Hugh’s excellent work on safety in winch launching and aerotows. This is an update on some of the other valuable work that Hugh has been doing.