Annual Awards
Blake Memorial Trophy
The most meritorious flight. The club incorporated a small power club at its formation – Blake was somehow a connection of this club and so the trophy came to CGC. This trophy “disappeared from our knowledge” for about 10 years and was recovered by Clinton Alderman. The trophy itself is said to be made of pure silver and hence is a very valuable trophy. In this trophy was presented by Sir Thomas Sopwith to Tim Biggs and later in 1951 it was presented to Heine von Michaelis for his pioneering wave flights in Betty’s wave.
Bill Bean Memorial Trophy
The best cross country flight by a pilot who does not yet hold a Gold C. Bill came to SA from the UK to work with SA Nylon spinners. He was introduced to gliding and took to this like a duck to water. He quickly made his mark on CGC. He become club secretary which task he handled with skill and enthusiasm. He edited the KK and produced many bumper editions of the newsletter. He subsequently became an instructor and was a popular instructor – he communicated his enthusiasm to his students and had a clear and easy way of getting the message across. He died in a tragic winching accident launching for a 500 Km attempt at Bloemfontein. This award – a book – commemorates Bill’s life and enthusiasm.
Terry Chiole Memorial Award
Best tug pilot. Terry was the son of a commercial pilot and an extremely enthusiastic pilot and especially a tug pilot. Terry was always willing to tug and was in addition an excellent tuggie – accurate safe and always comfortable for the glider pilot behind him. Terry was always willing and keen to work for and on behalf of the club. He was sadly killed in a truly tragic accident in which he and 2 young sons were killed in a road traffic accident.
Erna Bohr Memorial Trophy
Best club member. Erna was a student at Stellenbosch University. At 22 years of age she was a keen young pilot and a flying enthusiast. This occurred in 1954 and she was seen to crash from a winch launch in circumstances which were poorly explained. The newspaper of that time stated “On 12 December as the glider was on the point of becoming airborne it nosedived from about 100 ft and crashed to the airfield.” Clearly the newspapers understanding of aviation related matters were no better in the 50s than it is today!!.
Andries van Dijk Trophy
Awarded for the member making the greatest contribution to maintenance. Andries was a keen pilot – he flew club and his own gliders and was also a tug pilot. He served as chairman and also did some instruction. Among his many contributions was a substantial amount of work on the clubhouse at Fisantekraal. This club house was situated close to our hangar near the threshold of runway 23. The clubhouse was subsequently gutted in a fire – thought to be arson.
Brian Liegner Memorial Award
This award is made to the member making the greatest contribution to gliding. Brian was a longstanding member of the club who served in a number of capacities – KK editor as well as doing some instruction and a term as chairman. Brian’s passion was cross country flying and he did a great deal of this. He was one of the earliest pilots to fly significant cross country flights out of Worcester. Brian was a man of great intelligence and although many of his ideas seemed at first to be wildly “off the wall” he usually had at least a point. He was sadly killed in a glider trailer accident.
The Gerry Matchett Award for Best Pupil
This award is made to the pupil who has not only made good progress with his/her flying training but has also made a contribution to the club. Gerry was a truly delightful person. His sense of humour was legendary as were his red socks. The red socks arose from the fact that his 3 sons – as they became old enough to use dad’s socks somehow acquired all his socks – Gerry then only bought red socks which no-one else would wear. He had a huge fund of jokes and could keep a room full of glider pilots – grounded on an away camp by bad weather – amused and entertained for hours. He was an outstanding instructor who imparted his knowledge easily and comfortably so that he made his students feel good.
Jim Webster Trophy
This award to the “best” instructor is actually made to the instructor making the greatest contribution to instruction over the year. Jim was a regular visitor to CGC for the UK. He lived on Jersey and flew at a UK club. He and his wife Barbara, who was also a keen glider pilot, visited CGC at Fisantekraal regularly for a number of years to escape the harsh European winter. Jim believed that at that time there was no acknowledgment of the contributions of instructors to club life. Hence this award.
The Pilots' Award
This is an unusual award – rather than the recipient being selected by the committee with the advice of the flying panel where appropriate the recipient of this award is selected by the membership. The original intention was that this award would recognize some individual who had contributed to the club, the sport of soaring or made some otherwise noteworthy contribution to gliding who had possibly not been recognized by the more formally awarded honours. Thus we, as members, all are able to vote for a particular person. Traditionally no-one is nominated but each member puts down the name of the person most deserving of this award.
Cape Gauntlet Trophy
This trophy is presented to the winner of the Cape Gauntlet – a new club contest. The inaugural winner was Peter Farrell. |
