Jim Crocker Award

The award, kindly donated by Vice President Jim Crocker, recognises an exceptional and sustained contribution to the sport over an extended period of time. It is not made annually, but on an occasional basis. Jim was a member of the British Parachute Association for over 50 years, gaining his Advanced Instructor and Instructor Examiner ratings. He was the Chief Instructor of the Midland Parachute Centre and the leader of the Royal Green Jackets Parachute Display Team.

Jim enjoyed huge success during his time as a skydiver, including becoming European skydiving champion at championships held in Austria. He also competed in two world cups in South Africa and one in Germany and many major international competitions in other countries around the world. He was a former chairman of the BPA Safety and Training Committee (1971 to 1980), an elected Chair of the BPA (1983 to 1990), and subsequently a Vice President of the BPA. In terms of the wider air sports industry, Jim was an elected chairman of the Royal Aero Club of the UK (RAeC) and subsequently a Vice President. He was the chairman of the Royal Aero Club Trust, a registered charity. Jim passed away in January 2019 aged 73.

The award comprises a trophy in the form of a mounted sword that is presented to the recipient, whose name is recorded on the mounting. Recipients do not retain the trophy but receive a certificate to keep. The Jim Crocker Sword is presented to the recipient at the Royal Aero Club Annual Awards.

2022: PETE ALLUM

Pete Allum learned to pack his first parachute at the age of 10 and did his first jump at 15 (I think the statute of limitations has passed on that one by now) and it has been his lifelong passion ever since. He became one of the first in the UK to hold a USPA AFF rating at the age of 20 in 1984. He started competing in 1985 and was British FS Champion (4 and/or 8 way) every year from then until 2003 and represented the UK internationally. After a 4-year stint competing for Italy, winning their nationals every year, and winning international medals in both FS and CP, Pete returned to competing for the UK and became indoor national champion in 2015 and 2016. With over 35,000 jumps he is the UK's most experienced jumper and is highly sought after for his coaching, organising and mentorship. Adept at multiple disciplines in our sport he has developed acclaimed training programmes spanning many of them. Despite all his achievements, he says he is still learning every day. Last year, Pete was inducted into the International Skydiving Museum's Hall of Fame class of 2022. He is now on a mission to Future Proof Skydiving by making it sustainable and address the negative impact our sport has on the environment. Pete is an inspirational athlete. He is a true ambassador for the sport and the time has come to honour one of our greatest skydivers. Council have also decided to bestow Pete with a Life Membership to the association in recognition of his dedication to skydiving.

2021: DAVID & ANGELA HICKLING

David Hickling retired as Chief Instructor in 2009 and Angela Hickling retired as Chief Pilot in 2021. It is an appropriate time to recognise them both for the outstanding contribution they have made to the sport. David & Angela Hickling have owned and run Skydive Langar (British Parachute Schools) for over 40 years and in that time the PTO has always been one of the top three busiest DZs, always encouraging membership and progression. The PTO has gone from a Cessna 206 operation to a three Cessna Caravan operation. Langar has hosted National Championships on numerous occasions, and they have also hosted Instructor Courses almost every year since the 1980s. Both David and Angela have played a significant part in progressing the sport and have volunteered in many aspects of the governance of the Association:

David Hickling: Chief Instructor from 1980 until 2009; Held the following ratings; Category System/AFF/Tandem/Advanced Instructor & Instructor; Examiner; Council member from 1986 until 2004 Vice-Chair in 1987.

Angela Hickling: Chief Pilot from 1980 until 2021; Chair of the Pilots’ Committee from 1988 until 1993; GASCo representative in early 2000s; Held the following ratings: Authorised Pilot & Pilot Examiner

2019: GRAHAM SPICER

Graham has been a full member for the best part of three decades and has selflessly applied his extensive repertoire of skills to a major development in British Skydiving’s core function of membership management. Membership management is safety critical, because accurate recording of members’ ratings and qualifications in the sport is an integral part of safety management. The British Skydiving membership database, designed and developed in 1998, had been in use long beyond its design life. A step change was required a leap forward of over 20 years in technology in one single bound to give members and staff a fit for purpose tool to administer British Skydiving membership in the 2020s. Graham Spicer’s career experience in corporate IT and project management has, through his sheer generosity of his time and expertise that he has given to us in his early retirement, provided an expert resource from which all members and staff, and the sport overall, benefit. Graham’s skills set has perfectly filled a far bigger hole in our human resources than we realised we had. Graham’s involvement as client side project coordinator for British Skydiving has been a virtuoso performance. Although the PIMS and new web hub project being fulfilled by our external contractor Eudonet (UK) is a small project compared with many that Graham was used to in his business career, the myriad complexities of our project should not be underestimated. Graham also served as Chair and Secretary of the IT Strategy Group from its formation in 2015 to spring 2019, making a seminal contribution to the development of British Skydiving’s IT and digital capability and infrastructure. A quite different string to Graham’s bow is that he is one of two members who founded our Archive Project in the year of our 50th anniversary in 2011, and remains an Archivist, together with co-archivist Andrew Hilton. Graham is an authority on the history of British Skydiving, and sitting down with him with a pot of tea or something stronger for a fireside reminiscence guarantees a captivating time of hugely engaging narrative.

2018: ROB COLPUS

Rob Colpus is an icon in the world of sport parachuting who has made us so proud on both the national and international stage in an abundance of competitions and records. Over the years, he wrote a lot of the rules for Formation Skydiving competitions and designed many of the dives that remain in use today. His contribution to our sport since the 1970s is magnificent and varied, continuing long after he stepped down as an active competitor.

2017: JACKIE SMITH

Jackie joined the Parachute Regiment’s Freefall Display Team – the Red Devils – in 1971. She has won numerous Nationals in Style and Accuracy and in Formation Skydiving. In 1978, she took World Gold in Female Accuracy, being the first person in the world of either gender to consecutively score 10 0.00cm hits on an electronic pad at a World Parachuting Championships. Jackie continued to compete and win medals and awards for many years after that. She has toured the UK coaching and helping others to develop their skydiving skills and she remains a beacon of inspiration in our sport. Jackie is also an inductee to the USA-based Skydiving Hall of Fame.

2016: JOHN HITCHEN

John Hitchen, or ‘Hitch’ as he’s affectionately known by one and all, seems to have been around forever. He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1956, made his first sport parachuting descent in 1973 and got hooked. A Yorkshire lad, Hitch started the Sheeld School of Freefall Parachuting and spent many years at Wickenby, Elvington and Sturgate and served on Council before taking on the staff role of BPA National Coach and Safety Officer in 1981. The rest, as they say, is history. We couldn’t get rid of Hitch until he retired in 2013 at the age of 75. To this day, he remains a hugely respected figure in our sport’s international federation.

2012: JOHN & DEBBIE CARTER

John Carter has been parachuting since 1973. He has made over 4,000 jumps and has been qualified in a number of areas. He has been a Category System, AFF and Tandem instructor. He has also been an Authorised Pilot and Examiner. He is an FS and FF coach. He is a general medical practitioner and has been Medical Adviser to British Skydiving since 1990. He deals with around 300 enquiries a year on a wide range of issues and has been involved in a variety of important committees, working parties and training courses. He has played a major part in enhancing the safety of the sport. Debbie Carter was the Treasurer of the British Skydiving for over 20 years. Her diligent, reliable and constant work made a major contribution to the smooth-running and cost effective operation of the Association and advising on all aspects of finance.

2011: HELMUT CLOTH

In 1986, Helmut Cloth lost a good friend in a fatal skydiving accident. This made him determined to find a way to reduce the risk of the same thing happening to other skydivers. At that time, mechanical devices that opened reserve parachutes were either barometric or clockwork units that were invariably heavy, and in some cases unreliable. After four years of intensive research, Helmut Cloth developed a new parachute release system based on cybernetics, and began field trials. Known as Cypres – cybernetic parachute release system – this automatic activation device is a small, lightweight electronic unit with almost no working parts and very little user interface, which makes it highly reliable. The device activates automatically at a preset altitude if the rate of the parachutist’s descent is over a specific threshold. The units went into production by Helmut’s company, Airtec, and made their first live save in 1991. In 2003, a smaller and lighter version was launched, which is still in use today. Helmut remains an active skydiver, and he maintains his hands on approach to the continuing development of his invention in its various applications. To date, more than 198,000 Cypres units have been sold worldwide and approximately 5100 lives have been saved.

2010: BRIAN LAITHWAITE

The 2010 Jim Crocker Trophy for an Outstanding Contribution to Sport Parachuting was awarded to Brian Laithwaite in memoriam. Brian was an exceptional coach/load organiser who over the years served as CCI at two Drop Zones, and devoted decades of dedicated commitment to training the next generation of skydivers. Brian’s enthusiasm and sheer love of the sport shone like a beacon. No-one was ever left out with Brian. He knew how to make learning fun. His greatest satisfaction was to see his fledglings fly, and many have gone on to make their own mark on the sport. Brian suffered a fatal entanglement in summer 2010. He lives on in the memory of so many skydivers who look back with tremendous affection on the direction, fun and solace they enjoyed in their formative time under his wing.

2009: TONY KNIGHT

Tony Knight is one of the stalwarts of our sport, a long-time jumper, former DZ Operator of Affiliated Centres first in Ipswich and later in Norfolk, a former Chairman of the British Parachute Association Pilots’ Committee and for many years has been our key negotiator on aviation with the CAA.

2007: CLAIRE ‘SPARKY’ SCOTT

By the end of 2007, Claire ‘Sparky’ Scott was probably our most successful skydiver ever – despite holding a demanding full-time job that has nothing whatsoever to do with skydiving. Claire belonged to the female 4-way Formation Skydiving team that won the World Cups in 1999 and 2002, and the World Championships in 2003 and 2006 and is a current World and National Champion. She earned her CSI rating and teaches static line beginners. She is a personable and popular member and has been a real inspiration for up-and-coming skydivers through her commitment to coaching including as a coach for the Skills Coaching Roadshows, where she made her world-class expertise available to nourish the grass roots of our sport throughout the UK.