Many congratulations to the twenty people this morning who tested out the systems for pulling a 757 with wheelchairs.

On 6th September, the British Disabled Flying Association plan to set a world record at this - but in a practice today 20 people managed to tow the 58 tonne aircraft a distance of 40 metres. It'll need to be impressive in September to beat that!

Our thanks to DHL for lending the aeroplane to the BDFA and to AmSafe for providing the means to firmly attach a large number of wheelchairs to a single aircraft.

The British Women's Gliding team of 2007 was presented the Prince of Wales Cup on Wednesday 2nd July 2008 at the Royal Aero Club. This cup is for the best performance by an airsports team, a great achievement.

Remarkably Kay Draper has received this cup before, in 1988. Kay was a member of the victorious 1987 women's world hang gliding team a feat which earned her and the other members of the team an FAI gold medal.

As many will be aware, the British Disabled Flying Association are planning to tow a DHL Boeing 757 along the runway using only people in manual wheelchairs. This will take place on 6th September, the day of the Lasham Air Fair and the planned last day of the Qualifying Sailplane Grand Prix.

In order to test their systems they will be having a bit of a practice this Saturday (5th July) between 10 am and 12 noon. (This will take place on the runway but normal members' flying will not be affected.) They may be short of a few wheelchairs on the day so if any other members would like to help out they should be in the clubhouse around 9 am.

If you're a wheelchair user (manual chairs only!) and would like to take part in the pull on the 6th September or the practice this week, please see 757pull.co.uk .

Well done to Phil Jones who joined David Masson as he was trying to break the 100km goal record on Sunday (22 June). Phil hadn't ever attempted a goal record before.

Phil flew to Sherbourne and then started the task 107km to Lasham in a 25 knot tailwind. Phil says the streets weren't great but he managed not to turn once and broke the 20m UK record which was 150kph and the Open record which was 173kph. His speed was 200.5kph. David says he managed a 'paltry' (his word, not mine) 173 kts after he took an unfruitful detour and then had to stop and climb in 3 kts to avoid hitting the deck.

Congratulations to both of them!

Congratulations to Nigel Chubb (left) for winning CAMRA Hampshire Club of the Year for the second year running.

The award was presented yesterday evening and a good time was had by all!

(Thanks to Paul Haliday for the photo.)

Nick Hughes has decided to stand down as Tugmaster and the Committee of Management is pleased to welcome Fergus Buchanan (right) to the role. Fergus will be familiar to many of you, having been a member for over 15 years.

Our thanks to Nick Hughes for all he did as Tugmaster over many years.

Well, well, well. What a splendid set of results at the British Aerobatics Association National Glider Aerobatics Championships at Saltby in the past few days.

In the Sports Class, Matt Plumridge took Gold, Jonathan Ross took Silver and Charles Baker took Bronze - a Lasham 1-2-3.

In the Beginners, Johnny Mak came first and Emeric Massaut came second.

All in all, a tremendous result - many congratulations to all involved.

(My thanks to Jonathan Ross for the photos)

How nice to see Carolyn Grace with her son Richard and her two-seater Spitfire at Lasham today.

Carolyn flew a most enjoyable display in the afternoon, which was appreciated by all.

After the unfortunate demise of the old bus, the new bus put in its first appearance at the launch point today. It doesn't smoke as much as the last one, and the extra deck should make for improved briefing facilities in due course.

Many will be pleased to note that the new bus sports the 'Tina Bus' label in memory of Tina Render.

Many thanks to Bob Bickers for his splendid paint job!

It's taken a while and an enormous amount of effort, but the new caravan site is really beginning to look like a caravan site! The picture on the left shows the first caravan being delivered - this one is for Bernie Morris. More are expected imminently.

We expect the remaining bases to be laid in the next few weeks and the completion of the electrical and plumbing work will follow.

At the western end of the site, the first of the log cabins are also taking shape. Luxury!