A TEACHER from Robert May’s School in Odiham has leapt out of a plane to raise money for charity.

Kathleen Wingfield made the tandem skydive to support Naomi House Children’s Hospice. The hair-raising stunt raised more than £2,000.

The cause is close to Mrs Wingfield’s heart as she lost her niece Abigail in 1996, and the jump was in her memory.

The charity provides expert care to more than 280 life-limited and life-threatened children, young people and their extended families around the country. There are two specialist units; Naomi House for children, and Jacksplace for young adults.

Each unit is purpose-built and offers an appropriate environment for each age group. It costs around £7m a year to run the two units, with the charity receiving around 10 percent of its funding from the Department of Health. As little as £5 can help provide art materials for the children.

Robert May’s has been raising money for Naomi’s House for a number of years. Fundraising events have included non-uniform days and concerts. The school had raised £2,300 this year alone.

As head of Citizenship, Mrs Wingfield encourages students to get involved in the events. But this year she decided to have a go herself.

“The tandem skydive was absolutely fantastic and I loved every bit of it. I would definitely do it again if I had the chance. I was apprehensive and fully expected to be terrified when the time came, but surprisingly I wasn’t.

“When I had my name called out to go and get my harness on, I realised then that the skydive was actually about to happen and it wasn’t just something that I was going to be doing sometime in the future.

“The instructors were excellent and very re-assuring and my instructor was very skilled at making me feel at ease, so all my expected terror just didn’t happen.”

Thanking her luck the weather was on her side, she said it made the dive much more pleasant: “My skydive was from 10,000ft and it was all very exciting – particularly the free-fall, which is very quick and noisy, but an amazing experience nonetheless.

“Once the parachute was out it was a whole different experience as it was much calmer and quieter, and I was able to see for miles around.”

The hospice has two fundraising days a year set aside for skydives, and this was the year Mrs Wingfield thought she would challenge herself and raise as much money as possible for the charity.

She told us: “I am delighted that I have raised £2180. So the day was a winner all round.”

With Mrs Wingfield’s money, the school will have raised nearly £4,500 this year for Naomi’s House.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all those people who have been so generous in donating to such an amazing charity.”

Her fundraising page is still open for another two weeks. Donations can be made at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/kathleenwingfield.