The RAF Sports Parachute Association has been in existence for many years but fundamentally changed in concept about 5/6 years ago. It is now like any other RAF sport association - funded by the RAF Sports Board focussing on development and in particular competing at the Inter Service Level. The Chairman is a wg cdr and the 'gp capt or higher' oversight is provided by a President. RAFSPA in its modern guise can seek (and is encouraged to do so by the Sports Board) sponsorship on top of its operating costs and equipment budget from Sports Board/Sports Lottery funding.
Under the 'old' system, public and non-public funded equiment were not properly seperated and it became very clear that this was unsustainable and would not stand scrutiny. Hence to the change.
Skydive Weston, a business and commercial entity, and the 'new' RAFSPA (operated by the RAF SPorts Board) were born out of the debacle that was weekend sports parachuting at Weston up until around 2006. That it has come to the present impasse is disgraceful and I agree totally with TTB's sentiments. Some Weston club jumpers do indeed continue to jump at Hinton (presumably because it is geographically convenient for them), but many others jump at other dropzones both in the UK and abroad.
I hope this sheds some light from the perspective of a recent ex-RAFSPA Chairman
