The solar shone and the wind rushed round me so loudly, it blocked out all sound.
As I gazed down on the rolling hills and delightful countryside under, it was so picture-perfect, the earth seemed like a postcard.
I noticed my household too, getting smaller and smaller, and I attempted to wave however the stress was so nice, I may barely elevate my arm.
‘Who would have thought it,’ I marvelled. ‘Me, doing a wing walk at the age of 75.’
Back when I was younger, I would never have dreamt of doing anything like this. Of course, the opportunities weren’t there back then but even if they had been, I wouldn’t have seized them.
Back then, I wouldn’t have said boo to a goose. I even avoided the big dipper at the funfair. Instead, I busied myself running our family’s construction business, looking after my two sons and volunteering at Cats Protection’s Bournemouth & District Branch.
I’d always had cats, ever since I was child, and I absolutely adored them. Unlike what some people think, they can be as faithful as dogs. But only on their own terms.
We always had two, sometimes, three at a time when I was married, and even now, as I’m perhaps too old to take on a lively kitten, I have a 19-year-old moggie, who I adopted when her 101-year-old owner passed away last year.
So when, in 1988, I discovered there was a local Bournemouth branch of the Cats Protection charity, it was only natural for me to get involved helping the cats, arranging neutering, helping at fundraising events and then becoming a Committee Member.
That hasn’t spelled the end of my adventurous antics – in fact, it was just the start!
I preferred to be behind the scenes back then, letting other people take the lead and instructing me how best to help out.
But then, 15 years ago, my marriage broke down and I completely changed. I went… well, a bit daft, I suppose. Suddenly filled with a sense of freedom, I was desperate to try new things.
The year after, in 2009, I travelled to Australia and climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was just incredible – and I wanted to do more things like it.
So in 2016, when the head office of Cats Protection asked for volunteers to take part in a fundraising sky-dive they were organising and no-one else stepped up, I decided to put my name forward.
My age never came into it. It was simply the idea of doing something a bit adventurous, a little wacky, that appealed to me.
I think my family and friends all thought I had gone a bit mad when I told them what I’d signed up for but once they’d got over the shock, they were fully supportive.
Back in August 2016, on a bright, sunny day, I stepped into a small plane and flew up to 13,000ft. You’d think I would have been nervous but I really wasn’t. Especially not when I saw the hunky man from the Red Devil team I was going to be strapped to!
‘Ready?’ he shouted in my ear, when we’d gone through the safety procedures and the harness was secure. ‘Ready!’ I yelled back.
The minute he jumped out and we were falling through the sky, I suddenly thought, ‘What on earth have I done? Freefalling for 50 seconds at 120 mph!’
But once the parachute came up, I relaxed, drinking in the gorgeous views and admiring how tiny everything looked from so high up. Mike, my Red Devil, pointed out places of interest as we soared over Salisbury and sensing how much I was enjoying it, kept me up a little longer!
The minute I floated gently back to the ground, I wanted to go straight back up again. It didn’t even matter that I went deaf for three days because of the air pressure. It was incredible!
And I’d managed to raise more than £1,200 for Cats Protection – it was win-win!
I raved about it so much that my then-partner did the same thing the year after – and then he went on a wing walk in 2019!
As I watched him fly off on top of the plane, I was full of excitement – and a little bit of jealousy! ‘I wish I was up there with him,’ I thought, my eyes shining as I followed him up, up into the air.
‘You would love that!’ he gasped as soon as he landed again.
It almost seemed like fate, therefore, when the Head Office got in touch again in 2021, asking for volunteers to do a sponsored wing walk. The funds were needed more than ever since lockdown had prevented us from face-to-face fundraising.
I called up a volunteer from another Weymouth branch who I knew had done it before and asked her what she thought.
‘It was brilliant,’ she enthused. ‘I loved it so much, I’ve signed up again!’
Spurred on, I signed up – and in August, I was being strapped into a frame on top of a plane. ‘Just make sure you don’t press this!’ they instructed, pointing to the release button, which would have loosened me from the frame.
I can’t explain just how wonderful it felt to be sailing through the sky, seeing the world from above – and raising £2,700 for the charity to boot!
And that hasn’t spelled the end of my adventurous antics – in fact, it was just the start!
Since then, I’ve abseiled down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and, when I went to South America in September, I wanted to try my hand at paragliding over Rio. ‘Don’t you dare!’ my insurance company warned when I rang up to check with them.
‘Can that be it now?’ my younger son asked recently. ‘Can you finally start acting your age?’
But I’m having so much fun, I’m not sure I want to!
As far as I can tell, the sky’s the limit – no matter how old you are!
For more information, visit www.cats.org.uk
Age is Just a Number
Welcome to Age is Just a Number, a Metro.co.uk sequence aiming to point out that, relating to residing your life, attaining your desires, and being who you wish to be, the date in your delivery certificates means nothing.
Each week, put together to fulfill superb individuals doing stereotype-defying issues, in any respect levels of life.
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