A MAN whose friend died in a plane crash has made a film to honour his memory.
My Friend Who Died tells the story of Jamie Clapp and the effect of his death, at the age of 13, on his friends.
James Harris, who grew up in Warmley, got to know Jamie through their shared love of skateboarding, has made the 25-minute film using footage he filmed over a number of years growing up.
It will have a premiere at the Curzon Cinema in Clevedon in March.
Jamie died in 2007 when a light aircraft piloted by a family friend, Robert Gunter, stalled just after take-off and crashed, killing them both.
He was being taken up in the two-seater Cessna 150 from an airfield at Clutton, in the Chew Valley, as a pre-birthday treat.
Only later was it discovered that 33-year-old Mr Gunter had taken ecstasy before the flight and this, coupled with his inexperience as a pilot, was found to have contributed to the accident.
Rather than investigate the circumstances of the crash, James wanted the film to focus on Jamie and the voices of the people who knew him.
James said: “I wanted to tell the story of our friendship, the grief, the loss, the love, the passion, everything that we had within our community. That’s what is really important.
“When you’re a child you don’t know how to deal with grief – you don’t expect your friend to die.”
Former Sir Bernard Lovell School pupil James met Jamie through a friend after he started skateboarding aged 11.
James started making hour-long films for the group after he broke his arm.
He said: “I wanted to keep up with the group – the only way to keep in was to film the skateboarding.”
After Jamie died his friends worked with Jamie’s dad Gordon to raise £100,000 to create a memorial skate park in Emersons Green, where they used to meet up to skate, as well as in Mangotsfield, Bromley Heath, Warmley and Kingswood.
Gordon continued to fundraise for improvements at the park, next to Emersons Green retail park, until his death last April at the age of 81.
He also met up with Jamie’s friends t the park every year around July 3, the anniversary of the day his son died.
By the time the memorial park opened James was at university and said he “couldn’t face up” to his memories of Jamie. Many of the friends drifted away over the years.
James tried to make the film twice before but said he wasn’t “mature enough” and lacked the skills he now has, as the head of the film department at a creative agency in Clevedon.
A reunion with some of his old friends last year brought him back to the idea of making the film, and he spoke to Jamie’s step-brother, Mark, to ask for his blessing.
James said: “He said ‘you have to make it, because Gordon would have loved you to make it and it’s the story people need to hear’.”
James, who now lives in St George, took about six months in his spare time to edit some of his original footage along with newly-filmed location shots, archive BBC reports of Jamie’s funeral and memorial, and a voice-over.
The final piece of the jigsaw was a recording of Jamie singing a cover of Will Young’s song Evergreen, which James had recorded while they were out skating.
He thought it was lost, until his wife reminded him it was on a CD he kept in a rack at home.
After the premiere in March, James plans to release the film on YouTube.
My Friend Who Died will premiere at the Curzon Cinema in Clevedon on March 22.
For more details and tickets check www.curzon.org.uk for details of the Homegrown Shorts 2025 festival.