Dear All
Well here we are again! I had hoped to be sending you all a short Christmas message talking about how we were now approaching “the other side” of the COVID pandemic and looking forward to the New Year, but it appears events have intervened once more. To borrow a Blackadder quote, “we appear to be have moved no further forward than an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping”…
From Boxing Day the club, in common with much of England will move into Tier 4 and so sadly we will be forced to close our club once more. The closure is total which means no access for any purpose, including workshop use. Hopefully we will begin to get some better indications of how long we will be required to remain closed within the next week or two, however I’m sure you’ve all seen the news and so I doubt we will be able to operate again for some weeks.
This is clearly very depressing news but there is also much cause for optimism. The acceleration of vaccine distribution will hopefully mean a rapid return towards normality by the early Spring and on the plus side our airfield will begin the season in great shape! I suppose if there was a time to be prevented from flying January is probably one of the better months to lose?
This has been a very difficult year for all of us and a great many members have worked hard for the club this year. We owe them all much thanks, but I should like to single out a couple of chaps who, without their huge efforts, our club would be in far worse shape to weather the current storm. Andrew Hulme and Mike Samuels have been working constantly behind the scenes and I cannot begin to describe the amount of time and energy they have put into just keeping us going. We are in a relatively healthy financial position and very well prepared to take full advantage of a recovery to a more normal state as a direct result of their hard work. We all owe them a massive debt of gratitude.
It just remains for me to wish you and your families a very happy (if somewhat quieter than usual) Christmas and all the best for 2021.
Stay safe and Merry Christmas
Pete
Chairman, Cambridge Gliding Centre