About The Association
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The aim of the Association (reflecting the spirit of the original 1945 Constitution) is to provide opportunities for RAF PJIs past and present to remain in touch with friends and colleagues in an all ranks social network and to provide a welfare structure in which assistance can be mobilised to meet the immediate needs or concerns of members and their families. Membership Full membership of the Parachute Jumping Instructors (PJI) Canopy Club Association (Assn) is open only to those who have qualified as RAF PJIs – serving or retired. Serving PJIs are automatically enrolled as Full Members on award of their PJI brevet and retain that membership whilst serving. Retired PJIs hold and retain Full membership status. There is currently no annual subscription (see below). 
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Developed from the Parachute Training School (PTS) Canopy Club which was founded on 18 September 1945, the new PJI Canopy Club Assn was officially formed on 23 October 2012 for 2 main reasons: firstly because membership numbers were falling as original members aged (or no longer attended) and numbers of new members were insufficient to ‘fill the gaps’; and secondly, because the PTS had become absorbed within the newly-formed Airborne Delivery Wing (ADW) at RAF Brize Norton, which now embraces all aspects of personnel, stores and heavy drop delivery by parachute. In essence, the new Assn will set out to preserve the traditions and ethos of the old Canopy Club under a new management structure, but will develop a brand to attract the active support of all generations of PJI. It was decided that the new Association would be called “The PJI Canopy Club Association”.
Associate membership is open to those who have served in support of the military parachuting task, and have made at least one military parachute descent. Candidates plus those proposed by full members for Honorary membership through other connections with military parachute training, are proposed and appointed by members’ vote at an Assn Annual General Meeting (AGM). All existing Full, Associate and Honorary PTS Canopy Club Memberships have now been carried forward for automatic PJI Canopy Club Assn Membership. All Retired PJIs who were not existing Canopy Club members at the time of incorporation are also eligible for Assn membership on payment of an annual subscription. Anyone interested or requiring further information should contact either the General Secretary or the Assistant General Secretary (see Committee page). |
There is an Annual Subscription for Full and Associate Members, which is under regular review by the Committee and members at the AGM. Honorary Members are exempt from any subscription. Additional donations to the Treasurer for the Comforts Fund (for those in need of special support) are always welcome. An appropriate subscription may be paid from the ADW Fund to defray the overhead membership costs of the serving PJIs.