This article by Lorelle Chapman was first published in the Australian Gliding magazine.
Members of the Wimmera Soaring Club in Victoria celebrated the club's 25th anniversary on the weekend of 14-15 May with a dinner on the Saturday night, attended by 80 guests, and barbecue lunch and film afternoon on the Sunday.
There was a lot of laughter while members watched an old film that Tom Thompson had put on video. Most notable were the full heads of hair on some members when compared with today.
The club was formed in March 1963 and the first flight followed in August of that year with a Slingsby T31 being towed by Tiger Moth VH-WAL.
The Tiger Moth was a prize won by Jim Molyneaux of Dooen and subsequently given to the club to be used for towing.
The club operated from a variety of paddocks around Lower Norton, Kalkee and Dooen. The T31 and tug were stored at the Molyneaux farm.
The ex-Navy Nymph (no jokes, please) was added to the fleet in September 1965, followed in December 1965 by a syndicate-owned Boomerang, GDY, which was used by club members.
A Kookaburra, also ex-Navy, was bought in mid-1966 and the T31 was then sold. In October 1967, the club moved to the present site at Horsham aerodrome.
This move took four years of negotiations to obtain the necessary approval from the powers-that-be. Thanks must go to Geoff Strickland for his help.
The club's first hangar was built to house the Boomerang, Nymph, Kookaburra and Tiger Moth.
The first competitions were held at Dooen in 1966, with the first Horsham Week meeting being held there in February 1967. It ran for the full eight days.
The first Horsham Week at the aerodrome followed in February 1968 and has been held successfully each year since then.
Currently, the club has about 55 members. The club premises are being extended to house a proper workshop for repairing our sailplanes.