Updated on Jun 12th 2011 at 10:02 AM from the JustGiving API

My skydive

When the Student Union decided they were going to organise a skydive for students and staff to do to raise money for charity I jumped at the chance. It was something I'd always been interested in doing and all I needed to do was raise £200 to pay for it.

The fundraising went well and soon I had enough money to do the jump. Anything else was going straight to charity. Too late to back out now. The day of the jump seemed to suddenly arrive and before I knew it we were on the motorway. The day was over cast and a little dull but my mood was the opposite. I was bouncing and extremely excited. I text everyone I knew and couldn't keep still. The drive seemed to last a lifetime.

When Mike and I arrived at Skydive Weston the nerves had set in however it appeared we had a wait. The weather was too windy and didn't seem to be improving. We kept our fingers crossed and had a cup of tea. By 2:00 there was no sign of the weather improving so we went home. No jump today.

The next time we were booked in we woke up to better weather and I received a text saying today was the day. I was overly excited and couldn't keep still. My friends Jayne and Adam were coming with us today with their dog Tarka so I hoped they wouldn't be waiting around for no good reason.

When we arrived I saw somebody already skydiving and suddenly became very excited and emotional. Their were tears, even now though I'm not sure if it was tears of joy, or fear. We went to the club house and signed in and the waiting began. After about an hour I went for my my training and met my instructor Tim. It had sunk in by this point what I'd let myself in for and their wasn't any turning back. If only I hadn't been so reckless I wouldn't be in this situation now.

We spent most of the afternoon sat on a rug on the grass eating Pringles and Jelly Babies and watching others skydive, just waiting for my name to be called. Unfortunately it didn't come and when some dark clouds came over we feared it would be over for the day. When we heard that the RAF had suddenly decided to book an hour slot for one of their Hercules planes as well we decided to go for a change of scenery and find a pub. After a drink and short walk (when we disturbed a cricket match) we stood in the middle of a field and watched the Hercules drop skydiver after skydiver. I then got a phone call telling us to go back, the Hercules was about to leave and the weather was improving again.

We raced back to base and I found my instructor. I had about 20 minutes until I needed to suit up. In that 20 minutes I went to the toilet (for about the 40th time that day) and we watched the blue sky come back. It came back very quickly and suddenly the sun was warm again. I suited up and before I knew it I was in my harness. There was just time for a quick photo and a kiss before I was in the plane.

There were no seats in the plane as by this point I was strapped to my instructor and sat on top of him. The plane was very crowded, their were three people doing tandem along with me, two of us had camera men with us and there were about 5 people doing solo jumps. It took about 20 minutes of accent before the plane reached 12,000 feet and the door opened. The soloists jumped first then we began edging towards the door.

This was the worst part of the whole experience, I watched my cameraman, Bally, climb out of the plane and hang onto the side and we moved into place. I was out of the plane before my instructor and seemed to be just dangling their. I was holding onto my own harness, for something to hold onto, before I suddenly found myself falling through the air.

The noise of the air was deafening. I waved to the cameraman a few times as I felt the rush of the air pull my skin as it saw fit, after all we were falling at 125 miles an hour. The free fall was amazing and I loved every second of it. Unfortunately it didn't last long enough and before I knew it the canopy opened. Suddenly their was nothing but peace. It was deadly quiet and beautiful. I watched the cameraman disappear into the distance and really began to enjoy the view. It was amazing. The instructor passed me control of the canopy and I was able to turn us and decide which way were we going. We did S shapes and 360's, turned left and right and I didn't want to give control back.

When we were coming back to earth I even enjoyed the landing. I lifted my legs out of the way and let the instructor do all the work, as I was taught to, I wasn't just being lazy. I landed on my bum and once I had scramble to my feet the instructor began unclipping me, I started laughing when the wind grabbed the canopy again and started pulling us backwards but soon enough we were free and I'd completed my skydive.

It was an amazing experience and I'd recommend it to everyone.

 

Updated on May 28th 2011 at 7:47 PM from the JustGiving API

Dear all, unfortunately the skydive today was called off however hope to do it next weekend weather dependent. Thank you for donating and I promise to jump as soon as possible.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

 

Some people run a marathon for charity, some people sit in a bath of baked beans. I'm going one better and have decided that at the end of May I want to jump out of a plane, hopefully attached to a parachute, to raise money for some very good courses.

 

I am supporting three charities.

 

RAG Charity's

 

Pepper Hospice: The Pepper Foundation provides much needed professional and loving home care 365 days of the year, for seriously ill children throughout the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire area. Their aim is to provide children with a comfortable and happy life. As it’s a local charity to us, it’s really important to get involved to show your support for the local community.

 

and

 

Learn As One: Learn as One focuses on raising money to build and fund schools for children in Africa. It’s a fantastic charity to be involved with as their mission as well as raising money, is to inspire people and persuade them to do whatever they can to help these children go to school. 75 million children in Africa are not enrolled in primary school, so raising funds for this cause is vital These two are the RAG charities that the University is supporting.

 

As well as

 

The Fragile X Society: Fragile X Syndrome is the most common known cause of inherited learning disabilities. It can cause a wide range of difficulties with learning, as well as social, language, attention, emotional, and behavioural problems.

 

The Society’s Aims are to provide support and information to fragile X families from those who share and understand their concerns and needs, educate and inform the public and professionals about fragile X in order to raise awareness and understanding of the syndrome and so improve the care of all people affected by fragile X, encourage research into all aspects of fragile X and publicise the results.

 

Should you wish to donate to Rag charities please go to www.bucksstudent.com/charityskydiveselect my name (Louise Melling) from the drop down list and follow the on line instruction, should you wish to donate to The Fragile X society please go to http://www.justgiving.com/Louise-Freya  

 

 

 

Please feel free to pass this page around all your friends as I feel they are all very important charities and I would like to raise as much money as possible.

 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

So please dig deep and donate now.