Dave dives for Danny Porter Foundation

Monday 26th September, 2011 at 19:54

Danny's own dad, Dave Porter fulfilled a lifelong ambition whilst raising money for the Foundation when he took a skydive with the Red Devils. With well over £1500 raised so far - which is going straight to Weston Park Cancer Charity and Neurocare - he tells us in his own words what it feels like to step over the edge at 13,000ft...

Wednesday 31st August, 2011

In the words of the grandkids, “It was awesome”. The ride up in the plane was great, passing through two layers of cloud to 13000 feet. There were six tandem jumpers and I was the last to go, fastened securely to Milko (he used to be a milkman!), who over the last twenty years had jumped 16000 times; I must  admit that gave me a lot of confidence. As we left the plane and fell 8000 feet at 120mph in one minute you could say I experienced something of an adrenaline rush. Milko wasn’t satisfied with a straight fall – he had us spinning left, then right, then left again.

As we entered the high cloud at 5000 feet he opened the parachute and we emerged with a fantastic view of the Nottinghamshire countryside, including the airfield where we would land and all the spectators who looked like little ants below. The other jumpers we either landed or close to the ground, but Milko seemed determined to make it last and we spend the next five minutes swooping left and right through small clouds then leveling out and looking for the next “target”. He said that every jump still gave him a buzz and he certainly kept us up there for as long as possible.

Eventually we approached the ground, me waving my arms like a madman to Sandy, Dan and the grandchildren. Then it was “legs up” and a soft landing on my bum, a five yard slide and it was all over.

What a great experience; I would certainly do it again if Sandy would let me but at this stage she says it’s a definite “No” – she doesn’t think she could take the stress again!

A big thank you to all of you who so generously sponsored me and enabled me to participate in this amazing experience. Weston Park Cancer Hospital has now received a cheque for £1500 with more to come.

Many, many thanks 

Dave Porter