Tuesday 6 March 2012

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci


When I was younger, most of my dreams were about flying. In these dreams I would spend a lot of time running around and jumping, getting a bit more air on each jump until finally I’d be up in the air, soaring over everyone else. In one dream I had to have a foot in a bucket and hold onto a spade. I’m not really sure what that meant but I bet Freud would have a field day. Anyway, the point is, I dream about flying. A lot. And as I’ve got older, I have these dreams less and less. There’s probably something metaphorical about growing up there.
So when I was presented with the opportunity to skydive for charity, I couldn’t say no. It was something that came up through work. Myself and my friend Hannah had to raise around £700 between us for the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation in just under three weeks. It was a huge task and the reward was jumping out of a plane.
Leading up to the event, people kept asking me “Are you nervous? You couldn’t pay me to do it!” The thing is, I wasn’t nervous and I’d pay to do it in a heartbeat. I kept thinking I’d get nervous as they day drew closer, but I didn’t.
The day of the jump was gloriously sunny but bloody cold. My Mum, Dad, sister Alice and her friend Lucy and my Nanny and Grandad turned up to watch me. There was a lot of waiting around as we got a safety briefing and watched other people jump. A couple of hours later, it was my turn. I climbed into the very small plane with my instructor and the other jumpers and we bundled together underneath the wings. I just kept telling myself to take everything in. Everything. The plane, the take-off, the view. You could see for miles, almost the whole of Norfolk in plain sight. We climbed to 13,000 feet and then the door was opened. I thought I’d finally get scared when I hung off the edge of the plane and looked down at the ground. But I didn’t. We tumbled out of the door and rolled backwards and I got a view of the plane getting smaller and smaller and I suddenly thought ‘Bloody hell! We’re falling out of the sky!’ but that was just for a second and all of a sudden you don’t feel like you’re falling. You feel like you’re flying.



I’ve got the bug now. I want to learn to skydive properly. I want to have my own helmet with a camera inside it. I want a wing-suit so I can glide across the sky. I want to skydive all over the world. So the next step is to get qualified and become a licensed skydiver.
We’ve raised loads of money but are just shy of our £700 target. If you’ve got a few quid spare, please donate here. It’s for an awesome cause.