Club Development Conference – Sunday 18th October 2026 at Eastwood Hall, Nottingham, NG16 3SS
Many people from across the BGA have been busy behind the scenes designing a BGA Club Development Conference programme which we hope will support clubs. The provisional programme and details of how to book are available here.
Note: the Saturday evening has become a bit of a feature of the conference, with a relaxed conversational vibe. If you would like to join us, you will need to book and pay for your own accommodation separately. However, accommodation sold out last year, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Our theme for the day is broadly ‘leading your club to grow’ because creating and sustaining gliding clubs as happy, active clubs with plenty of gliding activity both in the air and on the ground is uniquely challenging. How can we make it as easy as possible for everyone, including people who run the club, to enjoy their gliding?
You will see that we have specific sessions for specific roles including Child Protection Officers, Junior Gliding Centre coordinators, Treasurers and Club Technical Officers. Please do encourage people holding these roles to attend.
We have carefully considered how we can best utilise the day and have the discussions that will support you as club leaders. There will be much to discuss, with plenty of scope for strategic thinking about the future of the sport and contributing your ideas. Gliding has never been a solo sport.
As ever we have a mix of plenary and breakout sessions, enabling delegates to build their own agenda during the day. All delegates will be in the first session of the day, which is traditionally where we share news and also set up the rest of the day. This year your food for thought is ‘Creating and sustaining great gliding clubs’.
After coffee, BGA Chief Technical Officer Gordon Macdonald will be running a Technical Officer Workshop for the rest of the day. He will be joined by Dominic Newton, Part66L Lead.
Everyone else will be back in the main room after lunch for the Safety update, and two sessions which should give a fresh perspective on both flying and funding.
Workshops This year there are three, two of 50 minutes before lunch and one of 60 minutes after tea. You can change stream during the day, or you can stay in one room and enjoy three aspects of one development area. Our aim is to create practical and pragmatic sessions so that you can take ideas and put them into action at your club. Specifics are still being designed, but we hope there is enough here for you to get a feel for what is in store on the day.
Club Management: This is a very broad heading. At present two workshops are decided: inclusion, with guest speaker Al Rosser of Aerobility; and the practicalities of welcoming new members. The final workshop is likely to be something topical…
Club Financial Health: for club Treasurers and anyone interested in the financial management of clubs. Led by David Howse, who many of you may know from his work with rates and rating valuations.
Good financial management and governance of clubs seem to get more and more demanding every year. This session is intended for current and future club treasurers, and others involved or with an interest in the ‘business side’ of managing a gliding club.
We plan to have potential attendees set most of the agenda by asking in advance for ‘hot topics’ you want to discuss in the session (look out for emails), as well as providing briefings on current matters that the BGA club development team are dealing with on our behalf. There will also be an opportunity to table subjects on the day.
This is a great opportunity for sharing problems, ideas and solutions and making contacts with others for ongoing mutual support activities.
Community: for people interested in building strong community links, including being able to access local pots of funding.
Marilyn Hood and Suzanne Robinson of the BGA Expanding Horizons initiative will be leading two workshops. The first one on making sure your club is easy to navigate for people on their first visit, and the second on accessing community funding.
Instructor Development & Operations Management: for CFIs and those interested in the training that clubs provide for members. Led by Rose Johnson and Co.
These sessions are highly valued for the opportunity to get together and discuss various aspects of pilot development and training, both in the air and on the ground. Supporting the breadth and depth of training needs for club members is critical for every club. Also critical for membership retention is that standards are maintained and fun flying / cheesy grins are created.
Junior Gliding: for JGC Liaison Officers; Club Child Protection Officers; people involved with running junior gliding activities at clubs.
Claire Emson and Lorna Sleigh work with Junior Gliding Centres and Karon Matten is the BGA Child Protection Lead. They support clubs to provide happy and enjoyable gliding for young people. They will be running the first workshop together, and later Karon will run a separate (additional) session for Club Child Protection Officers.
The £40 Delegate Fee includes: entry; access to conference materials & resources; lunch & refreshments.
If you think that the programme is missing something important, please do let Alison Randle know and we will see if it can be included.
We look forward to seeing everyone in October.