Skydiving for carers

Congratulations and thank you to the fearless Babs and her granddaughter Hazel, who both completed skydives and raised over £500 for Care for the Carers! They jumped over 12,000ft from a plane in a tandem skydive with an instructor.

Hazel has just turned 16 years old, and convinced her Nan to do the skydive with her as part of her birthday celebrations. Hazel saved up the money to pay for the skydive, while working at her weekend job.

Babs explains why she wanted to take on this daring challenge for us.

“My granddaughter, Hazel, has wanted to do a skydive since she was 12 and asked me to do one with her. I agreed, never thinking it would actually happen, and come around so quickly!

We decided to support Care for the Carers because they have helped me as a carer, and are there for all unpaid carers across East Sussex, supporting over 7,500 carers a year.

Ten years ago I gradually became a full time carer for my parents, and eventually a carer also, for my partner who developed Alzheimer’s. As they became more reliant on me I didn’t realise the toll it can have on your mental and physical health and how your whole life is put on hold whilst caring.

Care for the Carers supported me massively, introducing me to other carers, provided a network of support, and made me realise I was not alone. This charity became, and is still, very important to me, and I want to support, and give something back to them.

Hazel and I are raising money for them through this skydive, to highlight to others their existence and help them continue their magnificent work in helping other carers.”

Hazel says, “I’ve been wanting to do this skydive for ages, I can’t believe my Nan agreed to do it with me! I was nervous, but really excited! And we get to raise money for a great cause too. My Nan has been a carer for a long time and I know how much Care for the Carers have helped her, so I’m really happy we can help them as well.”

We caught up with Babs afterwards, on how it went.

“It was a fantastic experience and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone thinking of doing something amazing. I never thought I’d be saying this!”

Our Chief Executive, Jennifer Twist, says “I would like to say a massive thank you to Babs and Hazel for taking on this challenge, and literally going above and beyond to support carers!”

Watch their skydive, there is still time to support them by visiting their justgiving page here.

If you would like to do a skydive for us you can find details here, or take on another challenge, please contact Amy on amyh@cftc.org.uk, and we can support you with ideas and your fundraising.

Babs and Hazel did their skydive at Headcorn in Kent,