As a very old friend and great admirer of Alan Patching I was delighted to read that he had been awarded the Lilienthal Medal by the FAI.
Alan is the first Australian-born recipient of this highest gliding award: the two previous winners in Australia, Ingo Renner and Wally Wallington, were European born.
My gliding club in the United Kingdom can now claim that among the past winners - Philip Wills, Anne Burns, Ann Welch, Wally Wallington, Ian Strachan and now Alan Patching,  all have  flown with us at Lasham!  That's quite a feather in our cap.
Best regards and happy soaring to all my friends ‘down under’.  Wally Kahn