A Formby Grandfather is to jump 11,000ft for charity
Formby Grandfather of four, Paul Heaney is undertaking a Tandem Skydive on May the 6th to raise funds for The North West Air Ambulance. Grandfather Paul will be 72 years old when the skydive takes place, six days after his birthday.
Paul moved to Formby from Blackpool in November 1970. Paul said: "I feel like a native really and there can be few places around that are as good to live in as Formby. Among other things I am still a runner so I spend a lot of time with my dog in the pinewoods and the dunes. Priceless!"
Pauls skydive will take place at the Black Knights Parachute Centre at Cockerham. Paul will jump from 11,000 feet which will include 8,000 feet of freefall. He will achieve terminal velocity of 122 miles an hour during the freefall and at the age of 72yrs, that is some descent!
We asked Paul what had inspired him to participate in such a risky enterprise and he said: "I was at a meeting of the Civil service Pensioners' Alliance in Liverpool when we had a guest speaker from the north west Air Amulance."
"I was shocked to find that such a vital service was funded entirely by charity. We talked about fundraising and when Ben, the speaker, mentioned tandem Skydiving (and showed me a video of him doing it) I realised that I could kill three birds with one stone."
"I could make a worthwhile contribution to the society whilst accepting a personal challenge and hopefully in some small way inspire others, particularly older people, to move out of their comfort zone and accept their own personal challenges.”
We asked Paul what his wife thought of him doing a skydive at the age of 72 and he said: "I have been married to Pat for 51 years and she is very supportive of me doing this but, has instructed me not to break my leg as we are going on holiday shortly after the jump!"
What a great story this is. If you would like to sponsor Paul and help to raise funds for this vital service you can do so on his justgiving page which is at:
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Paul-Heaney
