Parachuting for Pat
12/06/2009
Pat Hardy was described as 'an inspirational woman who touched the lives of many people, not least in her roles as Head Teacher and Ordained Local Minister in the church'. And in, what Revd John Barron, Curate of St Mary’s Church, Whickham, says was 'a moment of madness', he and Peter Armstrong, Head Teacher of Whickham Parochial School, agreed to do a parachute jump to help raise funds for St Oswald’s Hospice who provided Pat with such great care in her final days.
Their jump took place at Peterlee on Saturday 16 May.
John tells the story:
'Saturday 8:30 in the evening – Peter and I are sat in the car park of the parachute centre near the site of the old Shotton Colliery. I’m not quite sure how we were feeling in truth. A real mixture of emotions: elated at what we’d just done; relieved that nothing had gone wrong; tired; and a bit shell-shocked at what we’d been through that day.
Twelve hours earlier, we’d sat in the same spot a bit unsure what the day ahead would hold. What followed was quite a gruelling training session – about 10 hours worth. Training was a mixture of classroom work, physical work and lots of drilling: how to jump out of the plane properly, how to land safely, how to fly the parachute to the landing zone. What happens if the parachute doesn’t open properly and you have to cut it away and open your reserve?
Our instructor for the day was called John – a veteran of 850 jumps: an inspirational man – also training was another first-timer called Andrew.
At the end of training, we were feeling very tired with all the information we’d had to take on board; bodies were very weary, we’d been using muscles that aren’t normally exercised! The weather had been dreadful: rain and wind had suspended jumping all day. Then last thing, at around 7:30 in the evening - a break in the weather . . . high clouds, rain stopped, wind below 15 mph . . . did we want to jump? Of course we did!
Tiredness forgotten as adrenalin kicked in and we went to be kitted out. Jump suit followed by parachute pack with all seals and arm and leg straps thoroughly check. An altimeter is fitted to the front, a helmet with radio completes the kit. All checked out (and several signatures later), a short delay and to the aircraft. Six jumpers on this run, we all fit into the (quite small) aircraft and we’re numbered off. I’m number two and Peter is number one – that’s the order we’ll jump. The pilot does pre-flight checks then . . . we’re off.
The small aircraft takes off and begins it’s climb – we look out the windows to find our bearings. There are lots of hazards around: pylons, wind turbines, even the A19 – we need to be able to recognise them from a height and steer away and towards the landing zone. We reach the right height – 3,500 ft – our instructor John opens the door and shouts for the aircraft to slow. He shouts to Peter, “number one, into the door”. Peter moves, puts his legs out, perches on the edge of the doorway. The instructor shouts “Go”, Peter launches himself out of the door.
I see his ‘fixed-line’ attached to the aircraft, it will pull out his parachute after about 4 seconds.
I hear instructions to Peter over my radio, it’s my turn next.
The plane turns around for another run into the landing zone - it’s my turn. “Number two, into the door”. I swing my legs out of the door, twist around and look inwards, “GO”, I go.
I shout “1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, check canopy.” I follow the drill I’ve learned.
I’m out of the plane, I’m flying through the air, my canopy opens – what a thrill!!
We both successfully completed our jumps, landing having avoiding hazards and without breaking any limbs. Despite hours of training, however, I managed to land on my bottom in a (thankfully soft) marsh.
This had all started last year, while visiting Pat in St Oswald’s Hospice. In a moment of madness (or was it Pat’s inspiration?) we agreed with Pat that we’d do a parachute jump to raise funds for St Oswald’s who were providing her with such great care in her last days. Pat, in her typical fashion, leapt into action and started the ball running with the St Oswald’s fundraising team.
‘Parachuting for Pat’ was a really incredible day - inspired by an incredible lady!'
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