St Mary’s supporter plans to jump for joy — at the age of 81!

A St Mary’s Hospice supporter is planning to complete a sky-dive for the charity — at the age of 81.

Bridget Chaplin has signed up for the sky-dive, which is scheduled to take place in July at Cark airfield.

She started supporting the hospice nearly 20 years ago, after her husband, David, spent his final days life in the Hospice. She said: “He spent his final 10 days in the Hospice being wonderfully looked after in the caring and kind atmosphere which the nursing and other staff created/

“I said, half in jest, that I would do a skydive for the hospice when I reached 90 — but nobody knows what is around the corner, and when I seen the jump advertised in the Hospice’s magazine I thought it would be a good idea to do it now, in case I never reach my 90th year.”

The fundraising team at St Mary’s have set up a Just Giving page for Bridget, which has already exceeded her target.

“I’m not good with technology,” she said, “so when the fundraising team said they would organise a just-giving page on the internet it seemed a marvelous way of using modern methods to reach as many people as possible. I’m really pleased at how well I’ve been supported and, hopefully, there will still be some more donations to come before the big day.”

Eighty-one might seem like a fair old age to take on your first sky-dive, but Bridget still has some way to go to get into the Guiness Book of Records.  Silverdale resident Adeline Franken is the oldest woman to jump out of a plane — she was 94 when she jumped out of a plane to raise funds for the RNLI in 2019, and in 2017 D-Day veteran Verdun Hayes became the oldest person, at the age of 101!

Will Bridget take on the challenge again in future, and attempt to break the record? “Never say never,” she said.

You can support Bridget by sponsoring her here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bridget-chaplain