BHPA Merit Award

For ten years Phil and his wife Ross have been a constant feature of British hang gliding comps here and abroad. Phil has been the focal point of the scoring system – an onerous task involving long hours, technical headaches and grumpy pilots – while Ross patiently ran registrations, collected money, issued T shirts, etc. Phil also maintained the UKNXCL website, dealing with disputes and discrepancies; set up and maintained the hang gliding comps website, and maintained the Panel website. And for several years was the UK CIVL hang gliding rep, putting our case on the international stage. All achieved with patience and great good humour

Brett has given many years of unstinting contribution to British paragliding and hang gliding competitions. He has driven the adoption of live tracking, with its significant safety and scoring benefits, and his Airtribune site has become a leading platform for competition tasks and bookings. In his work for the paragliding comps panel Brett has always shown a willingness to do the hard yards in unsung roles. His passion for working behind the scenes has been key to British comps – and competitors – emerging as among the world’s very best. He has also successfully represented British interests at the FAI

In 1968 Mark was one of the first Scouts to earn a parascending badge. By 1987 he was an experienced instructor at the Bollington club, eventually becoming Chairman in 2013. A driving force behind the club’s work with the Scouts and a strong supporter of Flyability, he regularly attended camps like Sky High and competed in accuracy competitions to a high standard. Bollington’s closure in 2021 ended Mark’s involvement in paragliding, the loss of the north’s last vehicle tow club leaving him with nowhere to fly. Without his good grace and boundless enthusiasm the club would not have existed.

After more than a decade leading the hang gliding Competitions Panel, a career change has caused Tim to step down from the role. A fine pilot himself, he has managed to combine straight-talking with being easy going. When he promises something he delivers, chasing others to do likewise with his ever-present good humour. He has delivered ten Nationals and nearly 30 British Open rounds that have punched very much above our weight on the international scale. Tim and his family, Babs, Tony and Charlie (herself an active pilot) are recognised figures at hang gliding comps and together have become a very powerful team.

Jenny has been a key part of the hang gliding Comps Panel for over a decade. Meet Director for three BOS events and three British Championships, she has also been British team manager at two world championships. Her organisational skills and commanding presence have ensured smooth running, whilst conflicts and problems have been dealt with expeditiously. Through several testing emergencies Jenny has displayed strong leadership and emotional resilience. Now taking over as head of BHPA Competitions, her hard work and management skills will continue to benefit the membership. She is universally regarded with affection and respect.

Jim joined the Sky Surfing Club in 1978 and initially served as secretary in 1983. Other positions followed; he has now spent 27 years on the committee and 22 as Chairman. Respected as a ‘steady hand’, he has helped guide the club around innumerable obstacles: site closure threats, conflicts between members, Mode S transponders, a proposed wind farm and local airspace restrictions, and recently played a key role in the club’s Covid lockdown response. Jim’s diplomacy and sense of fair play have been critical within the club and with other groups who share their sites. Without his efforts the club would not be the active and healthy organisation it is today.

A former RAF and and airline pilot, Chris served the Thames Valley club as Safety Officer and Chief Coach for several years. Recognising a need to make it easier to submit CANP requests, he created a spreadsheet to facilitate the process. When he began adding other clubs’ sites, Pete Logan offered to convert the spreadsheet into a web utility while Chris balanced BHPA members’ needs with military requirements. In its first year the app processed 624 CANP requests; following promotion in early 2020 submissions quadrupled, despite Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns. His latest project is a Thames Valley remote weather station.

Pete served as Dales club Website Editor and Secretary and ran the BPCup for several years. After a break to focus on work and family he returned to flying with renewed passion. Technical knowledge, backed by enthusiasm, led him to convert Chris Williams’ spreadsheet into a user-friendly web app whose slick design has won many plaudits. It brings the CANP system into the 21st century, is recognised by the CAA and has potential beyond our Association. While coping with endless upgrades and maintenance of the app Pete recently became Dales club Chief Coach; he also runs the ‘internationally recognised’ Baildon Sod competition.

Guy introduced many innovations in his three years heading the Paragliding Comps Panel. The British Winter Open in Colombia provided much needed low-season pilot training, and condensing the Championships to a single round allowed more of our international level pilots to challenge for the title; British comps are now amongst the highest ranked in the sport. Guy also supported the BPRA in bringing on a new crop of high-level pilots, and pushed for a simpler, fairer scoring system. His flying achievements are legion, not least his world record 510km goal flight with Harry Bloxham. He still competes at international level and continues to support British Team management.

Kirsty is stepping down from the Paragliding Competitions Panel after 11 years of helping to steer the course of British competition flying. Her influence has ensured that competitions and their administration have run smoothly: payments, refunds, qualifications and enquiries, etc, despite the hassle involved. As an active British Team participant for much of this time, she kept the team admin and accounts on track. Kirsty also created and managed the Paragliding Comps website. Alongside these achievements have been her successful competition performances over the years. She departs the Panel now to devote more time to her young family.

Having learnt to fly hang gliders with Keith Cockcroft in the late 1980s, Bernard later took up paragliding with Steve Hudson. Joining the embryonic BHPA emergency parachute team, he became a key figure as club repacking grew and matured. For two decades, while acting as the Derbyshire club’s regular trainer, he has provided guidance at other club repacks and trained many new BHPA repackers. Always quiet and unassuming, Bernard’s approach is characterised by a light touch, understated humour and endless patience, underpinned by the depth of his knowledge. The effort he has expended to promote good practice is exemplary.

Some clubs have members who practically embody the club, and for the Dunstable Club that man is Richard Greaves. Back in 1994 Richard was the club’s Membership Secretary and a Senior Coach, and had already written a comprehensive site guide and club handbook. 27 years on he is still a driving force behind pilot development and mentoring. His very thorough Pilot notes and lectures have been used by many aspiring pilots over the years, as has his comprehensive Airspace Brief pack. Richard also works tirelessly behind the scenes, managing the club website, membership system and Webcollect account.

A resolute chairman of the Dunstable Club in difficult times, James’s good spirit and level head have earned him universal respect from members. As Chairman several years ago when the club was famously sued, he stood by the club to lead it through testing times when others ran for cover, despite significant stress and a very full personal life. When not on the committee James is often found offering technical support, not least to the club’s well-received weather station and webcam. Yet none of this has been achieved at the expense of his good humour and enthusiasm for the sport.

It’s incredibly hard to get a team on the podium of the World Championships, yet as we count down to the 17th Worlds in Argentina the team are in strong form. Our secret weapon is the team captain, Jocky Sanderson. The Jocky factor cannot be underestimated and this comp will be a strong test. Jocky’s calm reassurance and tactical eye enables the team pilots to concentrate on the important stuff. Over the years he has contributed much: SIV courses, flying holidays and managing our team for Category 1 events. Always unstinting with his time, he has an ability to inspire others

Dave, a valued member of the South East Wales club for many years, has kept local hang gliding alive. He has coached many pilots, often with dual flights, volunteered in running the club and its sites, and helped the smooth running of local and national competitions. In April 2019, witnessing a pilot in difficulties at Pandy, ‘Trigger’ located the downed pilot and landed to provide first aid, and feedback to the emergency services. He later returned the injured pilot’s equipment to his vehicle, moving it to safety before the long walk to retrieve his own glider. His actions had a profound result on the pilot’s eventual recovery.

In August 2018 Innes Powell and Igor Volov died after a mid-air collision at Kruševo. In difficult circumstances Charles led the team picking up the pieces from this tragedy. Staying on in Macedonia after the competition, his experience in negotiating with the authorities in a very bureaucratic society, and arranging the repatriation of the pilots’ bodies, was invaluable, as was the sensitivity he displayed in breaking the news to the pilots’ relatives. Without Charles’ skills and experience, and the considerable time he gave, the event would have been infinitely more traumatic for all involved

Since its inception John has set the standard for the Malvern Aerotow Club’s equipment. His ingenuity and determination has improved and optimised the physical resources of the club, with particular regard to safety. His work includes the design and construction of the glider trolleys, the construction and testing of tow releases and weak links, and supervising every aspect of the rebuild of the club’s trike. Although his re-use of domestic equipment earned him the title of Dogruff Designs, his finished engineering is always carefully tested to ensure safety. His expertise has also benefited other groups

Paul is one of the most experienced instructors in Britain and has been teaching people to fly since 1986. Well known on Derbyshire hills, Paul has quietly produced numerous competent flyers. Even if you did not train with him he will find the time to reassure and offer advice and help, answering every question with a knowledge that never fails to impress. Many experienced pilots still seek him out for his advice. Paul is another of paragliding’s many unsung heroes

A full-time hang gliding and paragliding instructor for over 20 years, Alan has recently retired as the Officer Commanding the Joint Services Paragliding Centre at Crickhowell. In that time he has been involved in training hundreds of students, always with patience and enthusiasm. A qualified winch operator, he worked with the Norfolk club for many years before moving to Wales. He has taken part in many competitions including the Chabre and Nepal Opens, inspiring his fellow Joint Services instructors with skilful and confident flying. Alan is an all-round ambassador for free flying.

 

Bryan retired in 2016 after 14 years as Malvern Club Treasurer. He also took on a great many behind-the-scenes tasks, contributing to the successful operation of the club and flying on the Malverns. Landowner relationships, clearing trees, annual dinners, club trips, reserve repacks and issuing helmet stickers are but a few of his responsibilities. As a Club Coach Brian is happy to share his knowledge with newcomers and more experienced pilots too, both locally and on annual club trips he organised to Piedrahita. Having inspired and encouraged a new generation of XC pilots he still outflies most of them; he has held the club’s XC aggregate score award for 11 of the last 14 years

An active instructor for over 20 years, Ian has safely trained thousands of paragliding students. Now retired as CFI of Sunsoar Paragliding, his legacy is an active school in good shape with full bookings. He was the first to run regular BHPA training courses abroad, and his daily log sheets became the BHPA’s template for schools to keep effective records. He pioneered trips to the Dune de Pyla, Southern Spain and Morocco, now the mainstay of UK training abroad. He also made great efforts to help students with problems or disabilities, motivated by a desire to see others succeed as pilots. Many instructors will recall his advice: ‘It’s not about you, it’s about your students!’ On receiving his award Ian responded, ‘It’s been a wonderful journey!’

Andrew joined the Association of Parascending Clubs in 1974 as Publicity Officer and Newsletter Editor. When the Association became the British Association of Paragliding Clubs (BAPC) he served on the Executive Committee as Chairman, Treasurer, Insurance Officer and Magazine Editor. Very involved in the BAPC office, he was responsible for BAPC computerisation when comparable associations were still using card-index systems. His database, specifically tailored to the Association’s requirements, was adapted to accommodate hang gliding following amalgamation with the BHGA in 1992. Andrew continued to work behind the scenes

Already a longstanding icon for female hang glider pilots, 2015 was an extraordinary year for Kathleen. In May she set a new European declared distance-to-goal record of 156.3km from Llangollen. She went on to set two European and two world records from Hochfelln in Germany in July: triangle distance (200.08km); and 200km triangle speed (27.08km/h). These were followed a week later by World and European out-and-return distance records (229.8km) from Bischling in Austria, only narrowly missing the 200km out-and-return speed record at the same time. All these flights were the result of careful planning and brilliant flying

Richard single-handedly developed Tracker, an Android app providing a robust text based tracking system, an IGC tracklog and data uploads to Livetrack24 and other systems. It now has a significant user base with over 5000 free downloads including many UK XC pilots. It has proved to be a valuable contribution to safety as well as a useful tool for retrieves. Its design ensures tracking in difficult signal conditions, with battery monitoring to retain enough charge for an essential call. The Tracker system, continuously updated and now on version 6.05, has now grown to a maturity that deserves wider recognition.

The dedication of Lee Bligh, CFI of Cloudbase Paragliding goes beyond what is expected of a commercial operation. He brings on new pilots and continues to support them as they progress. His concern extends to strangers, often giving up his own flying. He has introduced many to XC flying and organised numerous trips abroad for no financial benefit. Lee will often drop everything to help out, not least when called last year at short notice to operate the Cloudbase winch at the Accuracy Nationals. He actively shuns any limelight; these efforts are accomplished without fanfare or publicity

A non-flying BHPA member, Rob has, with his father Phil, provided IT support for the BOS and hang gliding Nationals for several years. Rob has also maintained and developed the UKNXCL, default reference and main competitive element for most pilots and clubs. Last year Rob planned to stand down but was prevailed upon to continue. At Ager last year a bug threatened to bring the British Nationals to a halt; Rob wrestled with the scoring software late into the night to allow the competition to continue. His exceptional contribution to the hang gliding comps panel is an entirely voluntary endeavour.

Conspicuous service to the North Wales Club

Conspicuous service to the South West Wales Soaring Club

Conspicuous service to Army paragliding

Conspicuous service to the Peak Soaring Association

Conspicuous service to AHPA, Long Mynd and Combined Svcs

NWHGPC chairman, editor and repack organiser

Peak Soaring Association

RAFHG&PGA

Ongoing contribution to the sport

Services to accuracy competition

Services to the Wessex Club

Services to the Derbyshire Soaring Club

Services to the Derbyshire Soaring Club

Services to the Northumbria Club

Services to the Suffolk Coastal Floaters Club

Outstanding services to paragliding & FSC

Outstanding services to the SEWales Club

Outstanding services to the SEWales Club

Outstanding services to the Sky Surfing club

Unwavering support of women pilots and the Derbyshire Soaring Club

Matchless competition coaching & contributions to Skywings

Services to club/national parascending and FSC

Perfecting the Big Fat Repack format

Services to hang glider towing and FSC