Family watch as Mike leaps 13,000ft

Tuesday 31st July 2012

Pensioner Mike Ash completed a skydive from 13,000 feet to raise funds for a charity named after one of his younger relatives.

Mike, 71, made the leap at Headcorn Airfield, in Kent, for the Freddie Farmer Foundation as 30 friends and relatives, including five of his six grandchildren watched on.

Publisher Mike said: "I loved it all, the build-up, everything. People were saying 'Are you nervous?' and I said "no, I wasn't nervous, it was exciting."

"The man who took me up was Clem Quinn, who has done more than 9,000 jumps. It was a very crowded plane. I think there were about 14 of us. He asked me to watch for the red light, then it was time to tuck my legs back, bring my head back, arch my body then whoosh, I was triple somersaulting through the air."

Mike, who lives in Blackheath with wife Jackie, is a cousin to eight-year-old Freddie Farmer's granddad, Danny Catchesides.

He hopes his skydive will raise £10,000 for the charity which was set up last year to raise £250,000 for a specialised physiotherapist centre in south-east London.

Freddie, who lives in Eltham, was born at 28 weeks with cerebral palsy, weighing just 2lbs 12oz. He currently has to travel to Oxford three times a year for a week at a time for treatment.

Freddie's mum Deanne Farmer, who did the same skydive last year, said: "Mike is an amazing man who didn't think for a second about making the dive. He was already a wonderful member of our family, but this will go down in our family's history."

To sponsor Mike visit http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/MichaelAsh.

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