PENSIONER Ron Cook is flying high thanks to a hobby which has taken him around the world and won him many accolades. The Hawkesbury Upton man is a champion kite-flyer who discovered the sport quite by accident. Gazette feature writer KIRSTY RAMSDEN met the adventurous 76-year-old to find out more.

AWARD-WINNING kite-flyer Ron Cook was introduced to the sport through another airborne past-time - boomerang-throwing.

He was at an international boomerang and kite festival in the early 1990s but was unable to throw because the weather was too windy.

He had a look in the neighbouring field where kites were being thrown and his appetite for the sport was whetted.

He chatted with some of the experts who suggested a particular kite to buy.

He bought the kite at the festival and so began a hobby which has given him more than a decade of enjoyment.

He said: "From there I became more and more interested in kite-flying than in boomerangs.

"Kite-flying doesn't involve as much running and at my age I wasn't running as fast as I used to."

Kites have been around for centuries and centuries - in fact the Chinese were kiting in 1,000BC.

There are various types of kite including fighter kites and single line kites.

Mr Cook revealed in years gone by kites have had various uses - not just sport.

Kites have been used in wars, he explained, and by the inventor Marconi to hoist the first aerials into the air.

Mr Cook flies fighter kites, a manoeuvrable kite which can fly anything up to half-a-mile high and still be controlled.

He said: "You can fly a kite straight away with a little tuition but it takes years to fly with real skill."

He has a collection of about 100 kites.

Some are spectacular shapes and sizes, including a Spanish galleon shaped kite and one in the guise of a fruit bat.

He has had many of his kites made for him by experts in countries such as China and Bali.

He has made his own kites however, he explained: "I find I get more enjoyment flying someone else's kite than I do out of making my own."

The beauty of the sport, he said, was that a kite could cost whatever a person's purse would allow - from pence to £5,000.

He said: "Kite-flying is really relaxing. It is a lovely feeling to fly a kite.

"It is something you can enjoy at any age."

Mr Cook began teaching his grand-daughter to fly a kite when she was just two. Because kites can be flown by any age group, it is the ultimate family interest, he explained.

He said: "We have kite-making workshops for children at festivals."

Despite being weather sensitive - conditions can not be too wet nor too windy nor too calm - kite-flying is a "big big sport", he explained.

The smaller kite-flying festivals can attract up to 1,000 people however the larger ones can see audiences of 120,000, he said.

Mr Cook's interest has taken him around the world and he has been to China numerous times to fly kites.

In the East, in countries such as China and Malaysia, kite-flying is a huge sport.

He added: "Wherever I go on holiday my kites come with me."

He flew a kite shaped as a set of seagulls on the beach in Tunisia and was greeted by a woman who had seen the kite from a distance and brought bread to feed the gulls.

On top of his global travels he spends several weekends a year flying at kite festivals in the UK.

He has now created his own mini kite festival in his home village of Hawkesbury Upton.

When Mr Cook moved to the village from London three years ago he received permission from a farmer to fly his kites in a neighbouring field.

His kite-flying won much attention in Hawkesbury Upton and he was invited to fly kites at the village festival.

He invited a friend, world-renowned kite expert Stafford Wallis, to join the display.

He said: "We put on a show at the festival which attracted quite a lot of interest."

His kite display at the festival, which this year is on August 30, has now become a fixture.

Pictured: Ron Cook with one of his many unusual kites GSR622V03