Shalbourne Gliding Vintage Rally
17th - 20th July 2026. Rivar Hill Airfield
Welcome to the SGC Vintage Rally
Shalbourne Gliding is hosting a Vintage Rally, in association with the Vintage Glider Club, from 17th to 20th of July at our home airfield, Rivar Hill. This is our first such rally and our aim is very much for a low-key, fun event: a chance for owners of vintage gliders to fly from our airfield, meet old friends or make new ones and see some aircraft from another era in action.
Read on for more information. A link to the registration form is at the end of the page.
About Us
Shalbourne Gliding has been based at Rivar Hill since 1972. We are winch-only club, operating from a grass airfield with a usable length of around 0.75 mile oriented North-South. Launches of 1500' to 1800' are common when operating into wind. The airfield sits amid the beautiful Wiltshire countryside on top of a low ridge which runs from just west of Newbury down into the Vale of Pewsey.
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Facilities
Rivar Hill is an off-grid airfield with no mains electricity or water supply. You are welcome to camp or bring your caravan/motorhome to the rally, but do bear in mind these limitations to the hospitality that we can offer! There is a toilet-block with rainwater-supplied flushing and washing on offer. You can find campsites nearby at Suddene Park Farm and at the Bruce Arms pub. The towns of Hungerford and Marlborough (10 and 15 minutes distant respectively) provide many options for accommodation
Catering
In keeping with our setting, we don't have on-site facilities for food. We will have teas, coffees, soft drinks and snacks to purchase and there will be a Barbeque on the Saturday evening There is a shop in Shalbourne village which sells snacks and drinks. A variety of pubs in the neighbouring villages provide food (The Plough, The Three Tuns, The Swan ,The George) Hungerford and Marlborough both have numerous supermarkets and pubs/restaurants.
Operations
We will have a Duty Instructor rostered each day along with our duty team. The DI will be in charge of daily flying operations, as club flying will also be taking place. Our rally coordinator and CFI will be onsite to be the point of contact regarding any flying queries for rally participants, especially related to check flights, currency and site briefings. A general flying/task briefing will take place at 9.30 each day.
Requirements
We will require you to provide a copy of the following:
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SPL (or equivalent)
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Pilot Medical Declaration (or equivalent)
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Valid Glider’s Insurance Certificate
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Current ARC (or BGA annual / C of A for non-part 21 gliders )
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Current edition CAA 1:500,000 Chart.
Pilots will be required to become temporary members of SGC for each day flown - the cost for this is included in the registration fee.
Other Information
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Registration fee is £25.00 payable on registration
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Launches will be charged at the club rate of £12.25
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We will send out a link with more information, including notes for visiting pilots once registrations are complete
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We only have hangarage for our club gliders - visiting gliders will need to be left out overnight or derigged at the end of flying.
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We can only accept a fixed number of entrants so please fill out our application form as early as possible