It's our 50th anniversary next year

In 2013 the club will celebrate it's 50th Birthday/Anniversary. So we have to start thinking about how we can celebrate this mile stone in the club's life. Michael Hogan is the initial contact point for sharing ideas about what we can do next year. He is also looking for stories and photographs to preserve the club's history.

Some initial ideas and thoughts include.

1. Invitation to the Sunraysia Gliding Club for a get together and flying weekend at Horsham in march of 2013. (The old Wimmera Soaring Club was formed after the SGC came to Horsham in March 1963 to demonstrate gliding). Time frame March 2013.
2. Kicking off the 50th anniversary year with a greater involvement in the wind-up dinner and awards presentations at the Horsham Week Dinner in February 2013. Get our friends in the rest of the gliding movement involved from the very start of the year. Maybe a big spit roast. Time frame February 2013.
3. Re-enact the first aerotow from Nhill Aerodrome to Horsham Aerodrome as a publicity exercise. Look at the possibility of the return of the club's original first glider the T-31 from the museum at Bacchus Marsh. Could we aerotow the T-31 behind the Jabiru. Time frame, June/July 2013.
4. An open day at Horsham in 2013 to celebrate the first weekend of operations in 1963. Glider flights and  maybe the T-31 on display or flying, a Tiger Moth doing passenger flights. Time frame, August 2013.
5. A bigger combined annual dinner and 50th anniversary dinner. Invites friends and fellow aviators and former members from near and far. Time frame, August/September 2013.
6. Combine the annual dinner/anniversary dinner into a back too Wimmera Soaring Club/Horsham Flying Club/Wimmera Sport Aircraft Association weekend.Time frame August/September 2013.
7. A small informal fly-in to acknowledge the Recreational Aviation community. Maybe lunch, dinner and breakfast. Just a fly in, nothing fancy, free camping, free breakfast etc. maybe a film night after a BBQ dinner. Time frame, October/November 2013.
8. A bigger, better Christmas Dinner to wind-up the years celebrations. Time frame December 2013.
9. The collection and recording of stories from members past and present and produce an audiovisual record of the past fifty years. So we need photo, slides and films to preserve.
10. Recreate the first public meeting that formed the club as a means of beginning a push to attract new members. Have a meeting in the town hall, explain what gliding and recreational aviation is all about. Present talks and films on gliding and flying.

These are just some initial thoughts, some may never get off the ground. But we do need input from members present and past to make the year a success and set the club up for the years to come.

Please add your comments here or email them to Michael Hogan at horshamflyingclub@gmail.com