Our latest news

Wednesday 14th August has been a memorable day for Helping Wings bursary applicant Tobias Hosking.

After a few years of very little activity for our bursary students, 7 of them regained their confidence when Mike Owen, UK charity Aerobility’s instructor flew with them over a three day period in April.

As part of their one week holiday in Jersey offered by Prisoner of Conscience Jersey, One of our pilots was delighted to fly a family around the island on a beautiful sunny day. They loved their time up in the air!

Our annual joint event started when Wetwheels Jersey rang with news that the forecast was for rough seas on Sunday and so we decided to cancel that part of the event – safety first!

On Saturday, 16th December, flying charity Helping Wings joined forces with Jersey based airline Blue Islands to create an experience all sixty five passengers on board the Santa flight would never forget.

The passenger list was made up of local children who would gain significant benefit from the flying experience. They were accompanied by a parent or carer and, most importantly, Father Christmas and one of his elves.

The young people were guided through check-in and security procedures at the airport by Blue Islands’ staff and members of the Helping Wings team. After boarding their flight they found Father Christmas and the elf already on board to welcome them.

With a sprinkling of Christmas magic, the day was bright and sunny, giving everyone superb views of their home island.

Once the thirty minute trip was over the children arrived back in the terminal building where another surprise awaited them. Christmas presents appeared on the baggage carousel and each child received a gift from Santa, helped by his elf.

To finish the day, everyone was invited to Jersey Aero Club to share refreshments and excited tales of their adventure.

The flight was photographed and filmed by Videographer Luke Hosty from Protect.Blue which enabled each child and their families to have a lasting memory of the day

Helping Wings Chairperson, Eveline Hawkin said “We would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone for their generosity in donating everything that made this experience possible.” “We still can’t believe how amazing Blue Islands were to offer us an aircraft for the flight.”

She went on to explain, “The professionalism and kindness of their Santa 1 crew and airport ground staff provided a stress free travel environment for the children.” “This is extremely important for many of the conditions these children and their families live with.” “The confidence they have gained from this day will make a difference to their ability to travel in the future.” “This is not only important for precious family holidays but also for any off Island medical appointments”.

“To say that Saturday was a very special day for all the families is an understatement!” “The excitement was palpable and it was simply wonderful to see so many happy, smiling faces.”

To mark their 15th anniversary and to thank volunteers, Helping Wings Patron, His Excellency Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd CBE invited the charity to a reception at Government

Over the few days preceding the planned HW event for our young children and their families, the weather looked decisively bad with thunderstorms on the weather radar!

Breaking News - We are now inviting applicants for our Children's Day on 17th September 2023. Places are limited so please do not delay if you know of someone who is disabled or disadvantaged and you think would like to attend.

Helping Wings and Wetwheels joint event from Eveline Hawkin, HW Chair.

We are delighted to invite people to apply for the 2023 Butlin Family Charity Trust flying bursary. This is an opportunity for a disadvantaged or disabled local resident to enjoy the challenge of flying and maybe to achieve a dream which they may have thought was beyond their reach.

Ant Lewis, having completed the 2021 flying bursary sponsored by The Butlin Family Charity Trust, was recently awarded a further 5 hours flying by the Helping Wings Team. We hope you enjoy the short video of Ant’s recent flight over France.

We are delighted to be working with Aerobility Charity for the first time. The aircraft is equipped with a hand control so it is able to offer people with lower limb issues the chance to fly it. Thank you so much to instructor Mike and the Aerobility Charity for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

Helping Wings is delighted to announce that applications can now be made for the 2023 flying bursary sponsored by Ports of Jersey.The successful applicant will receive 10 hours of flying training with Synergy Flight Training who are based at the Jersey Aero Club.If you have any questions regarding the bursary, just drop us a line at [email protected]

We are delighted to announce that Jersey's new Governor, His Excellency Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd CBE, has agreed to be our new Patron. His Excellency served as an Officer in the Royal Navy for 37 years and latterly served as Fleet Commander, which is the Royal Navy’s most senior Warfare Officer and is second in command to the First Sea Lord.

The weather for our 18th September could not have been more perfect and with 31 families booked to fly around the island with our volunteer pilots, it was a busy day!However, the time passed quickly thanks to the other activities which kept the children busy.Very popular were the Ports of Jersey Fire and Rescue Team with their fire truck and light aircraft, they are always one of the highlights of the day.Everyone enjoyed the return visit of the Police Dogs with their handlers Sgt Dave Bisson and PC Duncan Gray. Everyone was fascinated by the demonstration but also by the obvious the enjoyment the dogs get out of it!New this year were rides in a vintage potato lorry driven by John Le Ruez and that too proved very popular.Within the Club room of the JAC, there was also plenty to do - a visit from Chicano, the magician, had the children spell bound whilst many of them loved having their face painted by Mia.The children were given pictures of Paddington Bear to colour in memory of Queen Elizabeth . Those will, hopefully, be our Christmas tree decorations at St. Peter’s church for their Christmas tree festival.

Heather's First Flight Helping Wings is delighted to award the 2022 flying bursary sponsored by Ports of Jersey to Heather Armstrong. 16 years old Heather who is profoundly deaf thoroughly enjoyed her first flight with Synergy instructor Martin (pictured).Heather who is about to start 6th form at Jersey College for Girls loves horse riding and ballet. She will be adding flying to her list of achievements!We wish her well with her flying and look forward to posting updates on our Facebook page.We also wish to thank Ports of Jersey for their continued support.

Having been contacted by our Patron, H.E. Sir Stephen Dalton about the possibility to fly for The Not Forgotten, we were able to organise a morning of flying on June 16th. Once again, we are so grateful to our volunteer pilots and our support team.

Our guest enjoyed their trips on planes and boats

We are delighted to announce that Andrew Philippou is the 2022 recipient of the Butlin Family Charity Trust Bursary

For the 7th year, thanks to the support of Ports of Jersey, we are delighted to offer a local resident, the chance of a flying bursary (worth £2000 of flying training with Synergy Flight Training). We are looking for someone who may not otherwise get the chance to learn to fly and who would get maximum benefit from this offer. This could be a life changing experience for the lucky recipient! The closing date for the application is July 31st. We are then hoping to hold interview so that the recipient can start flying this summer.

Helping Wings, Jerseys flying charity, presented bursaries for flying training at an event held at the Jersey Aero Club on Friday, 4th March.

2 bursaries have been awarded for 2021.

After weeks of wonderful weather, Saturday 2nd October turned out to be just about the worst possible day weather wise! At least, the decision as whether to fly or not was easy – all flying had to be cancelled.

7 aircraft from the RAS visited Jersey during the week end of 24th-26th September. The visit, arranged in conjunction with Government House, was very successful. The visiting crews flew 16 Helping Wings guests around the island during their visit.

It was a promising weather forecast for Thursday 8th July 2021, the date for the second joint event between Wetwheels and Helping Wings, however, our great British summer intervened! As the day dawned and guests from Les Amis, Eyecan, New Horizons and Tutela arrived, they were greeted with grey skies and poor visibility which threatened to put a stop to flying.

After 18 months of being grounded by the Covid events that have restricted us all, Helping Wings have finally been able to take to the sky again.

Helping Wings, the Jersey light aviation charity, is delighted to announce the 2021 bursary worth £2000 of flying training for the disadvantaged and the disabled of all ages sponsored by Ports of Jersey with Synergy Flight Training based at the Jersey Aero Club.

Great news…after a frustrating year and a half, Helping Wings is up in the air again!

Four years ago Helping Wings and Wetwheels had the idea of combining forces for a joint event. The plan was to take a party of local disadvantaged and disabled people across to Guernsey for the day. Half the group would fly with Helping Wings, the other would sail with Wetwheels then everyone would swap mode of transport for the return.

Whenever Helping Wings has a Flying event, the weather always has a say - of course. In recent times poor weather has caused some disappointment and a lot of re-scheduling but not at this year’s Young People’s Day held on Saturday , 6th April.

2018 is a very special year for Helping Wings, Jersey’s flying charity. We’ve been providing flying opportunities to local disadvantaged and disabled people, of all ages, since 2008 so we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary.

Thursday 26th July was a very special day for Ross Le Noa. Ross is the winner of the 2018 Helping Wings flying scholarship, sponsored by Port of Jersey.

Helping Wings are delighted to announce that the 2018 Flying Scholarship sponsored by Ports of Jersey has been awarded to Ross Le Noa.

It’s 6 o’clock in the morning, Saturday 21st of April. It’s light outside but not that light. The noise which has woken us up is that of steady but unforecast rain. Where is the sunny day we anticipated? Whatever the answer, we have to get ready for our 2018 Helping Wings day for young adults. Our first flights will take place at 10am ( hopefully ) and there is much to do! By the time we get to the aero club, the sky is already brightening, lifting the spirits of our team of helpers.

2018 is a milestone year for Helping Wings. We held our first event in October 2008. We now look forward to your joining us in our 10th anniversary year.

In the run up to our Helping Wings Day for younger children, the weather forecast looked really promising. But as Saturday, 7th October drew closer, the picture changed with the prospect of cloudy conditions with showers. Still, it didn’t look too bad and we’ve had successful events in the past when no flying has been possible.

Our next Helping Wings day for young children will be held on Saturday 7th October at the Jersey Aero Club. This day is for children nominally aged 5 to 12 although we are happy to consider older children if appropriate and if space allows. For logistical reasons, we have to limit the total number of flights to 36. This year, we are delighted to have been offered a flight for 4 youngsters and 2 carers with Isle-Fly. As usual, bookings will be accepted on a first come first serve basis.

On Wednesday 2nd August, over 50 people attended the 2017 Helping Wings Flying Scholarship presentation held at the Jersey Aero Club in the presence of our Patron His Excellency Sir Stephen Dalton and Lady Dalton. Myra Shacklady, representing Ports of Jersey, was also with us presenting the awards.

On Friday 28th April, Chakotay Wood, the 2015 Helping Wings Flying scholarship winner handed a cheque to Brian Heath, Helping Wings committee member and Chakotay’s mentor - a cheque for the amazing sum of £2553.92!

Another brilliant day yesterday for our first event of the year.

We are delighted that His Excellency Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton GCB, LLD (Hon), DSc (Hon), BSc, FRAes, CCMI has accepted to become our Patron.

Our first event of the year , sponsored by the Lions Club of Jersey, for teenagers and young adults is on Saturday 22nd April at the Jersey Aero Club.

2015 Helping Wings Flying Scholarship winner Chakotay Wood will be skydiving this coming April to raise funds for Helping Wings.

Amazing day yesterday for our traditional Helping Wings day for young children. The start of the day promised strong winds and heavy showers!

We are delighted to announce that the 2016 Helping Wings scholarship for the lower limb disabled sponsored by the Sir James Knott Trust has been awarded to wheelchair bound Melissa Alves.

Helping Wings has been very busy recently starting with our participation at the 2016 Jersey Air Display on Thursday 8th September. Blessed with blue skies, the display proved yet again truly spectacular. For us though, the highlight was our participation.

On Friday it was time for me to reach for the skies once more, surrounded by what could be described as a Mediterranean setting. With a tropical backdrop filling the sky with several shades of blue, silky soft and puffy white clouds scattered across the island of Jersey at just over a thousand feet. However in contrast the view from the ground varied completely, it appeared very overcast with the same old slogan: Business as usual. In my opinion I think it is safe to say that the true weather conditions can be very deceitful on the eye.

Residents of Les Amis had the best view of the Island this week when they were flown high into the sky thanks to Helping Wings charity.

The sun was shining on July 13th for a group from The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Yacht Club visiting the Jersey Aero Club.

Tuesday 28th June at the Jersey Aero Club saw over 50 Helping Wings and club members as well as friends celebrating this year’s awards to two very worthy candidates

Helping Wings, the Jersey light aviation charity, is delighted to announce that thanks to the Sir James Knott Trust, it is able to offer, for 3 years, a new scholarship worth £5000 of flying training per year with the Jersey Aero Club for a local person with a lower limb disability.

This annual event raises money for local charities and 12 year old Kenan Bryan made a presentation about Helping Wings at one of De La Salle College’s charity meetings. Helping Wings was then selected as one their recipients.

Helping Wings member Elaine Curtis receiving a cheque from Zana Le Meire and Ana De Freitas from Waitrose St. Brelade.

THE HAND CONTROL UNIT has at last arrived and is waiting installation by the aero club’s engineering department.

On Thursday 11th February, the Helping Wings Team held an open evening at the Jersey Aero Club for local charities and schools.

Helping Wings, the Jersey light aviation charity, is delighted to announce its 2016 bursary worth £2000 of flying training with the Jersey Aero Club for a local disabled person.

Today I arrived at the Aero Club where a very eager group of extreme sports precipitants were waiting to disembark of a journey of a very different kind.

Helping Wings Christmas Tree at St. Peter’s Church from 21st to 28th December 2015 for their Christmas Tree festival.

Another delighted Helping Wings “pilot”… Isobel and her friend just back from her round the island flight with Jersey Aero Club Chief Flying instructor James Evans.

Oh - what a perfect day ! Over the years since we’ve been running our annual event for younger children, the weather has certainly been a mixed bag. Twice, all flying had to be cancelled. The children still had a great time though, enjoying all the other activities organised for them but…

How amazing ! Helping Wings was given the chance to take part in the 2015 Jersey International Air Display.

Well, things didn’t go quite as planned…..but that’s the Channel Islands weather for you!

Today the weather appeared to be overcast, however the conditions were variable and subjected to change. Quite frankly the weather was all over the shop; clear conditions in the East, dull and grey appearance at the airport and coming in from Guernsey to the west was low levelled clouds bringing in low visibility and light to medium rain. Despite this we decided that we would head up and survey the current conditions, there was pockets of turbulence here and there however the weather seemed manageable to me. We continued to progress on with our circuits consisting of touch and goes as per normal, we started to see these low level clouds come rolling in.

Today started out in very typical British fashion, it was overcast and periods of rain with high winds. Later that afternoon the weathered had cleared and the sun was glowing again. However the wind still remained very strong and gusty, we decided to go up and survey the current weather conditions.

Jonathan Gready receiving a cheque from Lion Andrew Quinn which will enable Helping Wings to purchase a control column which will allow lower limb disabled people to fly. We are hoping to start training within the next few months.

Today the weather was surprisingly full of sunshine and blue skies as far as the eye could see. You wouldn’t have thought that we just experienced torrential rain and thunderstorms.

Today I experienced my first flying lesson in gorgeous sunshine, coated by bright blue skies. The views of Jersey from the air was like a mirroring view of a Caribbean island.

Another flight for Holidays for Heroes. Jersey Aero Club instructor Simon Harman took Sean and Chloe for a trip around the island. From the smiles on their faces… They obviously enjoyed it!

“Just a quick note to say thank you all so very much for the young people’s day. Mia and all of us had the most amazing day and cannot thank you all enough for giving up your time. Your kindness overwhelmed us. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces was beautiful. We all wish you all the luck on your future days”

Helping Wings, the Jersey light aviation charity, is delighted to announce its 2015 bursary worth £2000 of flying training with the Jersey Aero Club for a local disabled person.“We’re really excited about this year’s launch. We’ve changed the application process to allow islanders to nominate a disabled family member, friend or colleague who they feel would get the most benefit from the scholarship.”

After the most wonderful summer in recent memory, the signs of a change in the weather started to make themselves known by the weekend before Helping Wings Day on Saturday, October 4th. Of course, the weather had to break some time and gardeners were looking forward to welcome rain - who could blame them. But the Helping Wings team just wanted that good weather to last another week. It wasn’t to be. An active cold front was set to move in from the North West, bringing rain and wind to Jersey sometime early on the Saturday. At one stage it looked as though it might clear through early morning, to leave fresh if blustery conditions behind and, maybe, the chance of some flying but…… again, it wasn’t to be.

Wendy Lange-Smith at Grouville’s rectory handing over a cheque for £610 from the Churches of St Martin de Grouville and St Peter La Rocque to Richard Hawkin, Helping Wings Secretary.

Our thanks to Stefanie Rondel and Alan Lloyd who raised £387 for Helping Wings doing a tandem jump with Skydive Jersey recently.

Helping Wings will be running its annual day for younger children (nominally age 7 to 12) on Saturday 4th October. The day will consist of entertainment such as a magician, police dog handlers, drawing competition, etc , as well as the chance to scramble over a Jersey Airport fire truck and, of course, each child will get a flight around the island in a light aircraft.

Lisa Carney of Waitrose Community Matters in St Helier, Jersey handing over a cheque for Helping Wings to Eveline Hawkin, Chairman.

On the 27th June, Helping Wings awarded its annual Flying Scholarship to Gerard McGonigle. The presentation was made at the Jersey Aero Club by Ports of Jersey’s Group Commercial Director, Myra Shacklady, who had surprised the audience at last year’s presentation by announcing a three year sponsorship for the scholarship by the Ports of Jersey.

Myra Shacklady, Group Commercial Director of our sponsor Ports of Jersey, will present Gerard with his scholarship on Friday 27th June at the Jersey Aero Club.

We are delighted to announce that the 2014 Helping Wings flying scholarship sponsored by the Ports of Jersey has been awarded to Gerard Mc Gonigle.

Matthew Pérrée, one of our 2013 Flying Scholarship winners won again last night, at the Jersey Aero Club’s Flying Awards ceremony. Matthew was chosen as the recipient of the Airmanship award. The aero club’s Chief Flying Instructor, James Evans, explained that Matthew had indeed demonstrated great airmanship with his knowledge and obvious enthusiasm.

Helping Wings, the Jersey light aviation charity, is delighted to announce a bursary worth approximately £1600 towards the costs of 10 hours flight training with the Jersey Aero Club for a local disabled person.

Following last year’s decision to run a separate day for older children, more appropriate to their needs than the children’s party atmosphere of the traditional October Helping Wings Day, the Helping Wings team organised the 2014 day for the 5th April.

Enabling disadvantaged children and the disabled of all ages to share the exhilaration and fulfilment of flying.

Thank you for your interest in learning to fly! Please read the following three paragraphs carefully

The chosen date for the 2012 Helping Wings day could not have been a worse choice. It rained virtually all day long, with poor visibility and low cloud combining to make flying impossible. Even the commercial flights were grounded for a while.