Wrexham Scout Leader Earns His Wings At 50

Wrexham Scout Leader Trevor Haughton has been awarded his parachute wings, 33 years after his first jump at a Scout camp in Cheshire.

The Scouts’ canopy wings badge is awarded to those who have completed eight jumps, and is available to adults as well as young people.

Trevor got his taste for parachuting at the Cheshire Gathering camp in 1979 when he was a 17 year old Scout. He loved it and went on to do his training at Halfpenny Green Airfield near Wolverhampton, completing a static line jump for charity.

Unfortunately after a couple of jumps his lift moved away and Trevor and his other friends were unable to get there. Work and family life then got in the way and so the jumps stopped until Trevor turned 50 and he had something to prove.

Trevor said, “I wanted to show I wasn’t over the hill, so I signed up for a tandem jump from 10,000ft at Tilstock airfield near Whitchurch. Once again, I loved it, so signed up to do more training once again.

“I trained in May but had to wait until July to do my ‘first’ jump because of the bad weather we’ve had this year. I’m undertaking training known as the category system, which involves performing certain moves to progress from static line jumps, through freefall, to full qualification.

“I’m currently category 3 out of 8, jumping from about 3500 – 4000 ft, and performing dummy ripcord pulls whilst still on a static line. Once the instructors are happy with my performance, I’ll move on to freefall and learning stable flight.”

Thousands of people have their first taste of a sport or activity during their time with the Scouts, and it’s not just young people who enjoy the fun. Adults get to have a go at the huge variety of activities the Scouts put on, from abseiling to zorbing.

To get involved phone 0845 300 1818 or visit scouts.org.uk