My favourite thing about flying is the sense of freedom. I’ve flown up there and had eagles flying alongside me which is out of this world. When you get a thermal, which is the object of the exercise, you’re going up and you just watch the ground drift away. You can end up a mile, mile and a half, two miles above the ground.

It’s a challenge trying to maintain your flight because obviously you have no power. We’re completely dependent upon thermals, the wind. The skill is being able to find the thermals and what we call ‘core them’, which is turning 360 degrees and you core the thermal and that gives you height, which is what you see birds doing, seagulls and buzzards.

What made me start was just seeing newspaper clips and articles back in the day. It was when hang gliders were first coming into the country and at the time I was going to university, I chose a university that had a hang gliding club. Very quickly I became the chairman of the hang gliding committee.

The paragliding club is very social. They’re very, very encouraging. Everybody looks out for one another as well. It’s a really communal sport and Baildon Moor is a super place. We’re only 10 minutes away from civilization – there’s dog walkers, cyclists. It’s a great place.

Although the club doesn’t fly from Baildon, we often have ground handling sessions there. We always have the yearly Baildon Sod Flying competition, which is just a bit of silliness of a summer evening.

The UK was very early into hang gliding, so hang gliding kind of came before paragliding and because Baildon’s right next to Bradford and Leeds. People started teaching hang gliding here in the very early days, like we’re talking 1974. And then the same happened with paragliding.

We’re a coaching club. I run about 25 coaches. So a tenth of our members have volunteered to coach other pilots and encourage them to build on their skills. We’re quite geographically diverse. We have members all the way up in Newcastle, all the way down in Leeds, Bradford and the Peak District and then around the Lake District as well.

I got a chance to join the RAF so I was flying light aircraft in the RAF just for a short while but that was too many lists and switches. When I heard about paragliding, I was with a boss at work and we both decided to do it together. We didn’t look back for it.I just love that you can turn up and you clip in and if the wind’s right you just go.

While you’re up there it can be peaceful and zen. But even on the same day it can be completely action packed with burying a break and getting stuck into a climb.

There’s an interesting spread of people. They’re all usually a little bit independent. But, everybody’s sort of the same, regimented. Different types of characters. It’s learning to accept a situation that you can’t do anything about. Now you might be able to with other people in life, but it’s about learning to accept what you can’t change in a situation and then making the best of it.

Baildon is such an unassuming site. It’s useful because it can take most wind directions and it’s useful because it’s close to Leeds and Bradford, where most of our members are. Apart from that, no one actually ever flies from here to get anywhere. I don’t know if anyone’s ever got a thermal from here. To use this as a training ridge is great. And to then run the Baildon Sod competition from here makes it easily accessible, short notice, and gets most people here on the right day.

Baildon Sod is the first paragliding competition that was designed in the UK. I think it was about the late 70s, because this all really started in the early 70s. This club started in 1974 and was one of the first in the country.

We have actually made a trophy that is made of some plastic grass as well for the flyer who wins the sod for the year.

You’re in a harness and on a rope, then you basically step forward to get a little bit of acceleration on the wing and you lift up off the ground. Because you’re being pulled up, you’ve got no fear of falling down. You’re not going to fall because actually you can try and fall but you can’t because you’re being held up. So the whole fear of actually hitting the ground doesn’t come into your head, really. You’re just floating in the air like that.

I went windsurfing and I saw some kite surfers getting into the air and I thought, well, if you want to get into the air, how about paragliding? Because I had tried hang gliding previously in the 1980s. It’s a well known training ground and I’ve seen people flying from here before. And I flew from here on a hang glider in the 1981-ish.

I think it puts you in a different area, with the birds. It’s something outside of the norm. I think it’s been a dream for humans for a long time and we’re living it now. It’s very exhilarating. I think it’s really nice when you’re actually flying with the birds.

Sometimes there’s kestrels and in one situation there was at least 20 red kites and they weren’t afraid of us. They flew with us. It’s a bit like family. There are some people who are making a lot of effort and putting a lot into it to make the club run well, and I thank them for that. Make the most of the time that you have and of the moment.