40th Anniversary

The 10th April 2000 was the 40th anniversary of the first jumps made by the Scottish Parachute Club. This page covers some of the aspects of the 40th anniversary events at the club.

Newspaper Articles

'The Scotsman' newspaper, Saturday 8th April 2000 by Felicity Martin

'Skydiving' magazine March 2000 by Andrew Hilton

The Open Week

In August the club was open for a full week as usual in the summer, but this year to celebrate the anniversary we had some very special guests at the club -

World Formation Skydiving Champion and coach Jack Jefferies of Arizona Airspeed running a formation skydiving skills camp.
British National Formation Skydiving Champion and coach John McIver helping Jack.
British National Champion Freeflyer and coach Tim Porter providing coaching to club members in the new age disciplines.

The club had the Turbine G92 aircraft from Target Skysports during the week, which flew us to 14000 feet every time. Vast amounts of jumping and learning took place - all the coaches managed about 60 jumps each whilst providing superb coaching and motivation to the club members.

Click here and here for image galleries of the formation skydiving event.

The club received these words from the family of Doctor Charles Robertson, our founding member. These were duly conveyed to the membership at the Annual General Meeting on 25th November 2000 in Auchterarder.

"Greetings, Members and Guests of the Scottish Parachute Club on the most happy occasion of the 40th anniversary. We, the family of the founder, Dr. Charles Alexander Robertson all join you as one to extend our best wishes and congratulations to each and every one present and those who cannot be present. It goes without saying that we are thrilled that the club is alive and well. the sport has indeed evolved
through the years.
We doubt very much that any of you would trade your modern rigs for the surplus laundry that some of you started out with in the very early days. Dad must have been very persuasive, indeed.
It is YOU who make the Scottish Parachute Club the fine organization that it is today. The "Doc" would be so proud of you good people that he'd buy you all a drink.
My only regret is that my wife Shirley and I cannot be with you today. However, we'll try and be at the club in a few days. See you then! (PS I've only got 3 statics, but save me a space on the next load-Andrew) Warmest regards from your friends the Robertsons in Nova Scotia, Canada"

Andrew and Shirley lived up to their promise and visited the club for two weekends in December. Andrew also made a tandem jump with John Reid.

Click here for pictures of Andrew and Shirley's visit