VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

From Colin and A/ice Anson.The other side of the VGC - Comradeship and Helpfulness.You are never alone at a VGC Rendezvous or Rally!This proved particularly true for Alice and Colin this summer,both at Pavullo and at Rana in the Czech Republic. Whiledriving up to Pavullo with our caravan in tow, on the lastincline towards the town, our automatic transmission overheatedand the car refused to climb any further. A kind lady ata nearby farmhouse telephoned the airfield, about nine milesaway, for help, and although they had never met us before,two members of the Pavullo Aeroclub came out to us with a4-wheel drive vehicle and towed the caravan up to the airfield.The transmission had by then cooled down, and om car wasable to follow gently behind. Another Pavullo member whoowns a garage test drove the car, suggested a transmission oilchange which he carried out himself - and the transmissionseemed fine. You will have read about our wonderful reception,warmhearted hospitality, and memorable Rally atPavullo elsewhere in this issue.After various other adventures we attended the excellentRendezvous at Rana - but this proved not (0 be the end of ourcar troubles: when Alice tried to drive out of the car park aftershopping M louny, the car wouldn't: the transmission hadpaCked up again, this time for good. Again, VGC friendscame to the rescue, providing transport as needed. The carwas transported to a nearby town, but could not be repairedthere, and had to be laken to a main dealer near Chemnitz,South-East Germany.The tralllsport company could not take it there for a coupleof days and, as we still hoped that it could be repaired soonenough to allow us to go on to the Hungarian Rally, our goodfriends and fellow VGC members helped to tow the vehicleback to Rami (tricky, with the towrope getting shorter everytime it snapped!) and were actually preparing a towbar to helpus tow the car to Chemnitz, when the transporter companyfound they could take it there at once, after all. But localrepair proved too expensive!Our insurance company agreed to take our car back toEngland and send out a hire car - but that could not be deliveredin the Czech Republic. Which left us wondering how toget our caravan to Chemnitz. We need not have worried:Fellow VGC membel's hitched it up and look it, and us, to acamping site near Cllemnitz where we were on the spot toreceive the hire car, and see ours start on its journey home.The fantastic help given to us at Rana was especially appreciatedas we cannot speak the 'language and needed a great dealof assistance with many telephone calls and in so InallY otherways. We shall not soon fOt:get the many kindnesses shown usby our Czech hosts, and fellow members - nor our touchingl11ulti·national send-off (we wonder what the frontier policethought when they checked through a German car, and thensaw a British number plate on the back of our recedingcaravan...)There was a delay, through no fault of the insurancepeople, before tne hire car reached us: a brand-new Rover 620with only II miles on the clock! Too late, unfortunate,ly to goto Farkashegy; but it allowed us to tour Germany and visit theWasserkuppe before returning home (with over 1100 miles onthe clock!). And now oUr car is back in service.We may only meet once a year at our international ralliesand rendez-vous - but what an amazing international familywe are, and how fortunate we feel to be part of it! Our experiences.this year underline ,its comradely spiI',it in whichmembers fly together, work together, help each other, andenjoy ourselves together.No names are mentioned in this narrative for fear ofleaving someone out, but we are very grateful for all the helpand support!From Robert Shallcrass, Vicest House, Challock Lees,Ashford, Kent, TN25 4DEI enclose a photo of a Slingsby Swallow BGA 890, whichSahrah Brydon, Bob Lloyd and myself have just finishedrestoring. The aircraft spent most of its tife at the DeesideClub, Aboyne, and was purchased by ourselves in 1995 in asadly neglected state. When stripped, the fuselage was foundto require extensive woodworking repairs on which we hadprofessional help from Kevin May. We have had some excellentflying lately at Challock and would be very intel~ested tohear from anyone who made notable flights in it at Aboyne.Our current project is the restoration of our Olympia IBGA 512 which has a severely broken fuselage. If anyone hasanother damaged Oly I fuselage, or any parts of one, particularlythe centre section, we would be pleased to hear fromthem.This Minimoa, seen at Farkashegy by Chris Wills, was formerlyowned by Jan Scoll in the USA. It was restored by theMunster mafia and it is now owned by a syndicate atAventoft.33