Fundraisers offered chance of skydive

The charity is aiming to recruit 275 people to raise £44,000 – the same amount needed to employ an extra scientist on the Continuous Update Programme, WCRF’s cancer prevention project that ensures the charity can give the most accurate advice on reducing cancer risk.

WCRF is offering tandem jumps – where the novice freefaller is harnessed to a professional parachutist – to anyone who can raise £395 in sponsorship.

The cost of the jump itself is covered by WCRF, meaning it costs the skydiver nothing. Jumpers will get the chance to come as close as possible to the feeling of flight when they dive from a plane and freefall 5,000ft at speeds of up to 120mph before the parachute canopy opens and they float gracefully to the ground.

Throughout the experience they will be in the hands of a seasoned skydiving instructor who will control the descent and landing – the only way to do a freefall without spending thousands of pounds on advanced training. At the end of the day, each parachutist will get a “two-mile high” tandem skydive certificate as well as the satisfaction of raising money for cancer prevention.

Flights and training have been organised at Bridlington airfield, a British Parachute Association approved centre. The freefall training and jump can be completed in just a day.

WCRF are urging people to sign up to do a jump on Saturday, July 23 – when a number of staff from its London office are jumping –with the aim of getting as many skydivers as possible in the air for a mass parachute jump.

Sian Fraser, Events Fundraiser at WCRF, said: “This is an incredibly exhilarating experience. There is no actual payment – you just have to raise a £395 minimum sponsorship for cancer prevention.”

To book a jump email [email protected],