The North West Gyroplane Club was founded by Roger in 1995 and is very much the club of RS Gyroplanes.Apart from fulfilling the need to have a club as part of the training organisation the club also promotes fly-ins,but more particularly fly-outs.Notable fly-outs in past years have been a whole 'squadron' of both two seat and single seat gyroplanes making the journey to PFA Rallies both at Cranfield and latterly,Kemble - not to mention Wallis Days. With the introduction of modern two seaters,including the ELA we hope to take part in visits to all corners of the UK and Ireland - and beyond,in the future.

The club is very fortunate to have wonderful facilities at Kirkbride,including a new club-house attached to the tower,complete with kitchen,lounge and even a shower for overnight visitors.The airfield and runways are second to none with both a 1400metre tarmac runway and a 1000metre grass runway. The airfield is set on wonderful countryside on the Solway Coast and within close flying distance of the Lake District mountains and the magnificent Eden Valley.The Roman Wall and Pennines are also nearby so there is a huge variety of flying to be had,from wideopen deserted beaches to the magnificent Lake District valleys and beyond - all in completely unrestricted airspace!

Much of 2007 seems to have been spent flying either in Ireland or Spain -possibly because both countries have approved the ELA for flight.Our hosts and associates in Ireland are Hibernia Autogyros and one of the leading lights of Hibernia is long time North West Gyroplane Club member Shay Brennan.Shay owns an ELA 0-7 based at Kilrush in Kildare along with Norman Steele's 0-7(S) model.

Shay also owns a two seat side by side Xenon in which we have also done some extensive testing for it's Irish Permit to Fly.Also on the cards to test in the near future is another of Shays long-term projects,a massive UFO two seater which engineering colleague Chris Condell is just putting the finishing touches to at his Sellbridge,Dublin home.

The south of Ireland has some wonderful wide-open airspace with a good selection of grass strips to visit and generally a good welcome if you are dropping in by gyroplane. Shay has very kindly made his ELA available to several club members this year and some of the following pictures give a little of the flavour of flying in the Emerald Isle and some of the machines and autogyro characters there. Naturally,much more is planned for 2008.