Supergran to skydive for BHF (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

North Sheen supergran to skydive for BHF

12:00pm Friday 10th February 2012 in Richmond News By Paul Teed

A 76-year-old supergran is due to leap out of a plane at 12,000ft in a charity skydive.

Great-grandmother Sylvia Adams, of Chaucer Avenue, North Sheen, will take to the skies with her granddaughter Marie Davies, 28, to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

And while Mrs Davies is nervous about the daring challenge, her plucky grandmother cannot wait, and even had to be talked out of doing a terrifying “wing walk”, which involves standing on top of the plane in mid-air.

Mrs Adams said: “I’ve always wanted to do a wing walk, but my granddaughter said how about a sky dive and I said that would be even better. It all started from there.

“I can’t wait - I’m so excited to be able to do it. I want to go and do it now.”

Mrs Adams, who has 25 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, said she had never dared anything so scary before but recently visited Thorpe Park, where she went on all the rides, and flew over Niagara Falls in a helicopter.

The active pensioner, who has lived in Chaucer Avenue for about 30 years, only retired last year but was previously a Richmond Council escort for children with special needs and also worked as a seamstress.

Mrs Davies, a mother-of-three, said: “She originally wanted to do a wing walk but she’d had a hip replacement and wasn’t allowed to do it.

“She is not like a normal nan. She is not nervous but I’m petrified, I’m scared of heights.”

She said her grandmother was disappointed to learn she would not be the oldest person to skydive after the British Heart Foundation told her an 86-year-old held the record.

The pair will go to an airfield near Reading to do the tandem jumps on Sunday, March 11.

They chose to raise money for the British Heart Foundation after Mrs Davies’ father Clive died in 2005, aged 48, from a heart condition.

They hope to get more than £400. Mrs Davies also ran in a 10km fundraiser last year and will take on two marathons this year.

To make a donation, visit justgiving.com/Sylvia-skydive or justgiving.com/Marie-Davies-83.