Local resident Wendy Sheldon recently took part in a skydive to help raise money for the Sheriff of Nottingham’s nominated charity.
Wendy, who works at NG11 Cars in Clifton, took the heroic jump on the 22nd September.
Wendy said, “It all started when myself and the sheriff of Nottingham Malita Bryan was just having a conversation over a cup of coffee when she said ‘how about doing a sky dive for charity?’, undeterred I replied, ‘OK, let’s go for it!’ “
“So, when I got home, I contacted a few friends who had already done a tandem sky dive, they said ‘Go for it!’. So, I decided to look up Langar Airfield sky dive and next minute it was booked!”.
The skydive was booked for August 31st but sadly it was cancelled due to weather conditions, but luckily Wendy managed to rebook it for September 22nd.
Wendy continued, “I was so excited, I kept telling all my work friends at NG11 Cars ‘I’M JUMPING FROM AN AEROPLANE!’”
Finally, the day of the Wednesday 22nd September had arrived, the perfect day for jumping out of a plane.
Wendy said, “I woke up, looked out the window and the sun was shining, it was lovely day for a tandem skydive. I was really looking forward to it, I didn’t feel nervous at all, just excited thinking to myself a nice hunky man will be strapped to me and keep me safe.
“When I arrived at Langer Airfield, I looked up at the sky and could see lots of parachutists. I reported to the reception and waited for my name to be called on the tannoy. A sky dive instructor walked towards me and said his name was Ben. We had some briefing and training then he put the harness on me, gave me safety glasses and we walked to the awaiting plane and greeted my camera man.
“We all climbed in the plane, in total there was about 14 of us and I was first in. Off we went higher and higher in the sky, the view was brilliant. It was lovely and yet still felt relaxed. Next Ben attached me to the front of him. We all did the thumbs up in the plane and wished each other good luck, we got to about 14,000 feet and the doors opened. One by one or two by two the other sky divers jumped, until finally we were next.
“We jumped! The free fall lasted for so long, then the parachute came out and up again we went! It was amazing, the view, the weather, we could see for miles and miles! Ben took us through a cloud, it was like a foggy day! We went side to side, round in circles, whilst chatting in the air to each other for about 20 minutes. The view was mesmerising and what an experience!
“By the time we landed my face was red. I couldn’t thank Ben and the camera man enough! Ben even thanked me for not being nervous. I was so relaxed about it all, especially as it was all for a good cause, The Sheriff of Nottingham’s nominated charity.
“I would like to thank all at Langer Airfield for this once in a lifetime experience. I’m still buzzing from excitement even now!”.