Isle charity looking for volunteers for parachute jump

A spectacular summer ball will be taking place later this year to raise funds for Team Verrico and people will be notified of the event soon.

You will notice a massive leaflet drop through your letterboxes over the coming week or so, which will be advertising the summer ball and the information you will receive will explain just a little bit more about the work the charity does throughout the year.

I urge everyone that receives this leaflet to please take just a moment or two to read the literature and to think about just how you might want to engage with the charity and also how you might want to help others.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In just the last month or so, we have been able to assist two local cancer sufferers from the Isle of Axholme area to receive treatment in Harley Street in London, under the care of the Leaders of Oncological Care in the capital, to deal with cancers which have perplexed local hospitals for a long time.

In order to help in funding this treatment, we are absolutely delighted to announce that there is a new opportunity for people to SKYDIVE for charity.

On Easter Sunday we hope to have a team of at least 20 ‘willing’ volunteers to take to the skies of North Lincolnshire (Hibaldstow) to free fall and then glide on a parachute to the ground.

Those who have already committed themselves to the event include the grandson of a paratrooper, whose grandfather is a WW2 veteran and who has agreed to wear his grandfather’s wings on the descent; I am sure granddad will be on the ground looking on so proudly.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Team Verrico team will be captained by Fleur Binnington, an Isle resident whose husband, Chris, succumbed to a rare form of cancer in December 2013.

This will be her second jump for a cancer charity, after last taking to the air in September 2014 to raise funds for the Christie in Manchester. Fleur (pictured) told us “nothing beats the incredible feeling of freedom that comes from the sensation of clean air whooshing past you at hundreds of miles an hour as you free fall before the parachute opens. It’s an amazing experience that reminds you how lucky you are to be alive; doing events like these for Team Verrico are fantastic experiences as well as raising money for such a good cause”.

What are we spending money on this month? Many of you will have followed the news on social media that Team Verrico is currently supporting a local man, Jon Chapman - we were raising £3,000 by February 20 to pay for some genetic sequencing to enable the LOC to pinpoint the most effective chemotherapy regime for the rare cancer he suffers from.

As chair of the charity, getting involved in cases like Jon’s resonate very profoundly – here is a 31-year-old father of two small children facing an inconceivable prognosis. And we, as a community and as a charity can materially extend the time that his children can enjoy with their father. If you fancy holding an event or jumping out of the aeroplane with Fleur and the gang, drop me a line at paulverrico@eversheds.com.

Related topics: