SE Wales Hang Gliding & Paragliding Forums

As part of the Jubilee celebrations this bank holiday weekend, beacons will be lit across the UK on the evening of Monday 4th June.

The first to be lit will be at Windsor, at around 10.00pm.

The Club has agreed for one such beacon to be sited on the Blorenge overlooking Abergavenny. The event has been organized by the Town Council with our full co-operation, and the beacon will be erected and lit by members of the local ATC squadron at around 10.15pm. The plan is to also fire rockets prior to the lighting of the beacon to act as a signal to spectators in the town below to warn them that the beacon is about to be lit.

The beacon is gas powered and mounted on a tripod, so there should be no damage to the actual ground. It will also not be erected until around 9.30pm so shouldn't be an issue, should the Blorenge prove flyable that day. Paul Wilkinson and myself will be on hand to keep an eye on things.

Beacons will also be lit on other hills around Abergavenny, so if it's a clear night they should all be visible from the town itself.

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Paul

As an update to the lighting of the Blorenge Jubilee Beacon last night, this proved to be one of several lit in the Abergavenny area, and thanks to a dry evening and high cloud-base the Blorenge beacon and the fireworks were clearly visible from the town below.

We have received the following email from the ATC guys in charge of lighting the beacon thanking us for our help and co-operation in this successful community event.


To the delight of the Lord-Lieutenant for Gwent, over 40 beacons were lit in Gwent area including those at Skirrid Fach, Skirrid Fawr, Blorenge, Sugar Loaf, Graig, Newport and Clytha Hill, and the Club has now received a copy of an email sent by the Lord-Lieutenant thanking all concerned for making the event so successful.

Whilst at first sight this may all appear to have nothing to do with flying, by responding positively to the idea of a beacon on the Blorenge, the club has hopefully enhanced its reputation with both Llanover Estates (who own a number of our flying sites) and Abergavenny Town Council, and in the longer term this can only be of benefit to our Club and our sport.

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Paul