A PLUCKY Alton grandmother undertook her very first flight in a microlite plane last week to raise £700 for Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Pat Pullen of Beech celebrated her 75th birthday with a 40-minute flight which took her 1,800 feet abover the Wiltshire countryside, taking in the Savernake Forest and Kennett and Avon Canal before returning safely to the Clench Common airfield near Marlborough where the craft is hangered.

The decision to make the flight was taken when, at the age of 51, Pat's son, Christopher achieved a lifetime ambition to obtain his pilot's licence.

He was 52 this month and invited his mother to join him in a celebration flight.

Delighted at her son's achievement and determined to "have a go", the intrepid would-be aviator put her faith in his hands and took the plunge.

Donning a pilot suit owned by grandson Gordon, who was in the Air Training Corps, Pat prepared to follow in the footsteps of her own father, Walter Murray Cowper, who had been a pilot during the first world war. "He swung his age to get in and was only 18 when he finished," recalled Pat.

The microlite belonged to Christopher and this was the first time he had taken a passenger on board.

"We always celebrate our birthdays together and he said: 'Would you like to go up in the microlite this year?' I said yes - he was absolutely thrilled that I trusted him," said Pat who, although feeling "chuffed to bits" after the event, admitted to being "scared stiff" and "speechless" at the time.

"It was a bit cramped, it is only a very tiny craft," she said.

Because of the magnitude of the adventure, and because friends from Alton Townswomen's Guild had recently helped to launch the Alton branch of Macmillan Cancer Relief which needed a helping hand to get going, Pat decided to raise sponsorship for the flight.

"It is a good charity and one which every one of us could need at some time or other," she said.

So impressed were Pat's friends that they supported her to the tune of £700 for the flight, a sum which she proudly handed over this week to branch treasurer Sheila Palmer.

"It was certainly an unforgettable experience and one which will go down in the family archives," said Pat, who wishes to express grateful thanks to all those who supported her in her venture.