High fives shot of St Bartholomew's celebrations

Parent takes off in family glider to witness event

ONE parent has taken St Bartholomew’s School’s 550th celebration to new heights.

The Newbury school celebrated its 550th birthday with 950 pupils gathering on the field to form the shape of a 550 for a specially-commissioned aerial photograph.

However, one parent decided to get her very own bird’s eye view of the landmark celebration.

Gillian Brind took to the air in a family-owned glider to snap her son David participating in the formation.

Mrs Brind, who is a member of Shalbourne Gliding, joined fellow member Rod Harris to snap the event from 3,000ft, .

They nearly had to make an early landing in a suitable field on their way back to the airfield at Shalbourne as the thermals were proving elusive.

But, fortunately, they managed to find a thermal to gain more than enough height to return to Shalbourne.

The Brind family glider is a Ka7 from 1960 which has been lovingly, and expertly, restored by Mrs Brind’s husband Andrew and her father-in-law Alan and flown by three generations of Brinds.

Mr Brind’s current restoration project is an Olympia glider, which was one of the last batch of gliders built by local furniture manufacturer Elliot’s of Newbury in 1959.

Publicity officer at Shalbourne Gliding, Stephen Ottner, said: “This was a remarkable achievement bearing in mind they were flying in a low-performance vintage glider and this year’s summer weather has been particularly poor for gliding.”

St Bartholomew’s School was founded in 1466 on the will of Henry Wormestall.

Shalbourne Gliding is the local gliding club based at the Rivar Hill airfield sitting on the top of the ridge above Shalbourne.

It welcomes anyone with an interest in learning to fly or just curious about the sport.

For more information visit www.shalbournegliding.co.uk