The important publicity is in gliding clubs own hands,
local coverage is fairly easy to come by, have an open
day, a charity event, an air show or just a feature
on club achievements. This will get plenty of interested
potential members to try gliding, assuming you have
a reasonable population nearby it really is that easy.
So why are numbers falling, because many clubs are
so badly organised, new recruits and ab-initios are
EXPECTED to hang around all day and maybe get a 5 min
circuit at 4pm.
In the past people had the time to do that, but today
most do not, they value their time and want to feel
that it is worthwhile. Pressure from work , family,
partners and other sports terminates a great many flying
careers, clubs must recognise this ( assuming they
really want more members and by no means all do!! ).
Notably, a few clubs have recognised this and are thriving,
most have yet to change.
Gliding need not be expensive, it will cost about £
700 in flyingtime plus membership say £200 thats £900
for your first year and you should be solo by then,
after that it's up to you. There are plenty of sports
more expensive, boats, horses, motorcycles, golf and
many others.
Having my own glider I spend £2000 each year which
is just about what it would cost to keep a horse, it
is a comparison that I use to put the cost in perspective
to outsiders. Everyone knows someone who has a horse
even if they cannot afford one themselves. The majority
of horse owners that I know are women, so they really
do have time and money to follow their sport and are
not tied to the sink exclusively. Regretably though
most of them choose other ways to spend their spare
cash.


David Smith