More background on our JG blog

IT WAS AWESOME GOOD FUN. JUMPED AT FOUR PM FRI 27 JUNE. VIDEO ON YouTube (to follow) AND PICS ON Flickr. THANK YOU TO RICHARD AND ALEX AND EVERYONE AT THE HEADCORN PARACHUTE CLUB AND THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO DONATED TO MY PAGE. Thank you to all my fabulous colleagues at Justgiving for their invaluable support and encouragement. LOVE FROM MIKE

Hello everybody, thank you for visiting my new fundraising page,

SUNDAY 1 JUNE. The adrenalin rush was there, but the clouds refused to part long enough to cut a pair of sailor's trews, so the jump is rescheduled for FRIDAY 27 JUNE. Fingers crossed and thank you again for all your generous donations.

Cousin Doris (in the middle of my photo) is helping with my fundraising and has written to me to say how pleased she is that Help the Aged are involved in the Disaster Emergency Committee's work to help the crisis in Burma, so please help Help the Aged and HelpAge international who are co-ordinating an emergency response team to ensure that older people across the worst affected areas are not forgotten by the aid effort. PLEASE MAKE A DONATION.

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On my Bucket List (things to do before I kick it!) is a parachute jump. I have always wanted to fly, so now I have decided to take the plunge and do a tandem skydive to raise money for Help the Aged.

Across the planet the human population is ageing, but this phenomenon is particularly marked in the industrial democracies. In 2002 life expectancy at birth in the UK was 75.9 years for men and 80.5 years for women.

Pictured on my page from left to right are my mother, Joan, in her eighties, our cousin Doris, in her nineties and myself, now over 21 years old. Both Joan and Doris are very fit, well and active and are enjoying their retirement after long working lives and bringing up children - who dote on them.

Not all our elderly people are as fortunate as they are and not so many of my contemporaries are as lucky as I am to have such happy and dynamic parents and relatives who are great, stimulating company and who still have so much to give. Furthermore, they are living links to our heritage. Joan, for instance, is fascinating to talk to about growing up in London in the 1920s and 1930s, her life in uniform in the WAAF during World War II, learning to drive on an air force truck and who she voted for in 1945 (neither Churchill nor Atlee as it happens).

A few facts from Help the Aged, which should put a rich country like ours to shame: 20% of UK pensioners (over 2 million people) live below the poverty line; 1 in 3 live in sub-standard accommodation; over 1 million older people cannot afford to heat their homes properly.

Please sponsor me, in part to flatter my Icarus vanity (the jumps costs about £200), but more importantly to give Help the Aged the means to help less fortunate elderly people live a better, more involved and fulfilling life.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Help the Aged will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.

Mike (a.k.a. Icarus the Birdman).

THANKS TO THE WIMBLEDON WELLS'S FOR THEIR GENEROUS OFFLINE DONATION