Dear Member
None of us has ever known anything like what we’re experiencing right now. I know you’ll be as concerned as I am about the health of your loved ones and the livelihoods of those around you.
Normal life, and economic activity, is effectively on hold for the duration – whatever that might be. Sport and recreation, including skydiving, is impacted as much as everything else.
I’m writing to assure you that, through this exceptionally difficult and challenging time, our members’ interests are, as always, at the heart of everything we do.
We should all follow government advice to get through the Coronavirus pandemic, please do everything you can to keep safe and protect your family and friends.
Our sport, as every other, is battening down the hatches until the government tells us we can start to return to something more like normality – although it may be a new normal, the nature of which none of us can yet know.
We are setting up an online forum for our Drop Zone Owners and Operators Specialised Interest Group to share news, views and best practice so that we can help each other through these tough times. All businesses, including Drop Zones, are facing unprecedented economic challenges. The value of a community approach is clear, DZOs, members and all those connected to us are a family and we need to pull together in these tough times.
The new membership year beginning on 1 April will be like no other. We’ll be looking at how to ensure our members don’t lose out on subscriptions for times when there is likely to be much less or no skydiving taking place. We have approached our insurers to discuss the situation where no skydiving is taking place and there is the possibility of a pro-rata refund. We’ll be using the British Skydiving website and social media channels to keep you up-to-date with vital information and engaging content for a lay-off at home. We want to use the time on our hands productively to help us all bounce back from this when the restrictions begin to clear. We’ll be with you all the way and we want you to be involved.
The Council of British Skydiving is holding a special video meeting on Saturday afternoon 21 March to discuss the current situation that is affecting us all and we will report on the outcomes afterwards. Please share with us on social media your questions or concerns. We’re unlikely to have anything like all the answers, but as a community brought together by our passion for our sport, members may have ideas, insights or information to share that you feel may be of benefit to the family. Let’s all stay safe, and get through this together.
Take care
Tony Butler
Chief Operating Officer