A FATHER and daughter have completed a daring two-and-a-half mile skydive to celebrate “significant birthdays” and raise funds for a mountain rescue team.
David Ranner, from Boldron, and his daughter, Jenny Hollando, who lives in Cumbria, decided to set themselves the challenge to celebrate their 70th and 40th birthdays.
Mr Ranner, a retired site volunteer manager for North Yorkshire County Council, said: “It my crazy idea. As we were both celebrating significant birthdays, I thought why not do something crazy?
“Jenny did a sky dive years ago when she was in Australia and I knew she would jump at the chance to do it again.”
And after a family member was involved in a rock climbing accident they also decided to try to raise as much as possible for Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team (LAMRT).
Mr Ranner added: “We booked the skydive a few weeks ago and then my nephew, Chris, suffered significant injuries when he was descending Gimmer Crag in Cumbria. There was a rockslide and he had to be rescued by Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team.”
Paramedics from LAMRT treated his nephew at the scene and organised his evacuation from the hard-to-reach crag before he was airlifted to Preston Hospital.
Mr Ranner added: “Without LAMRT Chris probably wouldn’t be with us now that is for sure.
“He’s making a good recovery but did suffer a lot of broken bones and a punctured lung.
“The work the team do is fantastic and they rely on donations to keep going. So we thought it was such a worthy cause.”
LAMRT operates in the central Lake District region and attends about 100 incidents each year. Each incident costs about £600 to £700 and the team of volunteers is self-funding.
Mr Ranner and his daughter initially set out to raise £500 but have already managed to smash that total with more than £1,200 pledged.
On Saturday, July 6, they travelled to Cark airfield, near Grange Over Sands, in Cumbria, to complete their challenge.
They jumped at 14,000ft, which is about two-and-a-half miles, while strapped to instructors.
Mr Ranner said: “I didn’t have to do anything really and I wasn’t nervous, well not until they opened the plane door and told us to step out.”
He added: “It was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t tried it.”
To make a donation to their appeal, visit https://uk.virgin
moneygiving.com/DavidRan
ner
