Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Some of you may know that I am very keen on anything to do with aviation. Over the past 20 years, I reckon I have taken around 1000 commercial flights, and a similar number of flights with me at the controls. Although I don't know the exact number, I do know that all the flights have one thing in common - the number of landings exactly equals the number of take-offs.
So, when the opportunity came to do something new in aviation - to make the number of take-offs differ from the number of landings, I was veyr keen to do it. If you haven't worked it out, it's a parachute jump. A 13,500 foot, 40-second free fall parachute jump to be precise. I am ready to do the jump, sponsored for the Brigitte Trust, its in the diary for August, and my friend and co-jumper Ian Chester is up for us doing it together. It all sounds great, and I am really keen to do it.
However, some of my friends and relatives are less keen. They point out (correctly) that my last three ski-ing trips ended up with me coming home in a wheelchair or on crutches. It is also true that in the past few years, I have torn an Achilles Tendon and broken both ligaments in both knees. They think I shouldn't do the jump - but I really want to do it!
I checked with my doctor, and she said she would not physically prevent me from doing it - but that with my record of lower limb injury, she wouldn;t do it if she was me. But, again, I really, really want to do it!!
So, I have decided not to do the jump provided I can raise at least the same amount of sponsorship for the Trust as I would have raised had I gone ahead with it. In summary, I am asking you to sponsor me to be sensible and not do the parachute jump. If you think I would be daft to do it, even though I really want to, then tell me this by sponsoring me to remain on the ground for this one.
Brigitte Trust is a small charity with 60 volunteers giving practical and emotional support people who have life threatening illnesses. Last year they helped almost 200 families with a service which is highly complementary to the work of the Hospice movement offering people the chance to increase the time they can spend at home during their illness. They are partially funded by the local NHS PCT but we are desperate for funds to continue and increase this much needed service. They keep costs to a minimum so you can be sure that your money will go directly to training and supervising volunteers and covering unavoidable running expenses.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now. And keep me sensible (for a change) and on the ground!
