On Monday, September 11, 2017 at 11:11:28 AM UTC+3, Paul Ruskin wrote:
The basic requirement remains, to fly a glider solo in the UK you have to
be aged 16 years or more. That is the ONLY legal requirement, there are no
others, no medical, no certificate, no licence, no talking to jobsworth.
You just need to be 16 years or older.

Without wishing to accuse you of being a jobsworth, Don, I think it's been 14 in the UK for a few years.

Must have been quite a few.

We had a discussion in NZ in the early 90s about whether we should keep the minimum age at 16, or change to 14 like USA and UK.

In the end it was decided the entire concept of a minimum age based on calendar years was flawed and now we don't have one at all.

If you can reach the controls and demonstrate to a club's chief instructor that you can fly the glider and (most importantly!) make appropriate decisions under pressure in various real and simulated situations -- congratulations, you can solo!

To my knowledge, two 12 year olds have soloed in NZ (one boy, one girl). Maybe it's more by now.