Having always been fascinated by flight and thermals from an early
age(R/C soarers/flight sims user), I had the opportunity 7 years ago
to do a 5-day gliding course at the beautiful Long Mynd Gliding club;
needless to say it was one of the best experiences of my life.
As luck would have it, on the last day and flight of the course, I
(with instructor in back) managed a 2 hour+ flight hopping from
thermal to thermal soaking in the wonder of it all over the glorious
Shropshire country side; I had control from takeoff (winch) to landing
which made it all the more special; we came back to home-base to let
the other students on the course have a go, otherwise if I had my way,
I would have stayed up all day ...
Sorry to ramble, let me get to back to the advice I need
I am being made redundant in the next few months after 14 years of
service as a fitness instructor and I want to get into something
completely different and rewarding...I have been mulling over the idea
of working towards becoming a gliding instructor but have no idea what
my options are, where to start, and if this is even a realistic goal
for me.

I am 40 years of age, married with 2 children (13 and 8 years of age),
live in London and left school with no qualifications (Left school at
15 to pursue a career as a skateboard Pro; became UK champion and
traveled the world doing demos/competing etc back in the late
70's/early 80's...Why oh why did I not get into football instead...).
I have lots of "life experience" and have done all manner of work from
"Film artist"(film extra to you and me), shop assistant to shop
manager, market trader/shop retailer, decorator, builders assistant,
soldier in French Army (My mother is French), Lifeguard, exercise
teacher, fitness instructor and other various jobs here and there...I
am good with Computers (self taught/build my own) and am willing to do
what ever it takes to achieve an end result.

Flying, soaring specifically, has been and still is my true passion.

If someone could be kind enough to advise me what my options might be
and what the realities are, it would help me to set some goals either
way; I would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks


Marc

PS, with part of my redundancy money (which will not go that far)I
plan on doing another 5 day gliding course, hopefully at the end of
August and at Long Mynd again.
I also remember on the previous course I did some chaps offered me to
jump in on a Glider "share", this might be an option for me for the
future and could be a cost effective way to get more flying
time/experience. Any advice on this would also be welcome.