Following the success of the 2024 Women’s Go Gliding weekend, a local gliding club is opening its doors again on April 26 for a weekend aimed especially at women and girls.

The Dartmoor Gliding Society based at Brentor is hosting a repeat of last year’s event which saw two new female members join the club.

This year’s event to encourage more women and girls to take up the sport takes place on Saturday, April 26 as part of a nationwide initiative led by the British Gliding Association.

The day will include a brief overview of gliding and the club, a tour of the airfield and the mechanics of the launch which, common to most clubs in the UK, is via a winch launch. The highlight of the day will be a flight in one of the club’s fleet of two-seater dual control training gliders, accompanied by a club instructor.

This year, booking for the day can now be made via the club’s website at www.dartmoorgliding.co.uk/women-2025/. Steve Fletcher, secretary of the club which is run exclusively by volunteers, said: “Women and girls can book either a morning or afternoon slot to fly and it costs £75 to take part.” The club also host a range of one day and one or two flight sessions to give everyone a taster of gliding over Dartmoor.

As ever, the event is weather dependent with last year’s women-only event rescheduled to June after wind and rain made the airfield unusable.

Of almost 30,000 pilots in the UK, fewer than five per cent are women. A spokesperson for the British Gliding Association said: “The aim is to encourage more women to try gliding and to be inspired to learn to fly as a member of a gliding club!”