AVDC Chairman's Charity Skydive

On Friday 28 June  Rebecca Henson and AVDC  Vice chairman Cllr Chris Poll are taking  tandem skydives to raise money for 'Nest Aylesbury Vale'  - AVDC 's Chairman Cllr Judy Brandis’ nominated charity. 

Cllr Chris Poll explains why it was important to him to raise a significant amount of money for the Chairman's charity. 

"My first thought on the announcement by Judy that she would only nominate one charity (because of her reduced term in office), was that lots of effort would be needed to raise a decent amount for that charity.  I started to ponder... what could I do to help?

"With lots of constraints on my time, I'm not always able to attend the Chairman’s charity events.  However I felt that there must be something I could do to raise some funds.  My hope was that it would be in the order of £1000+."

"I considered a few things and quickly discounted them, then I remembered a charity skydive I donated to last year...  An interesting and slightly unique fundraising idea, among council members perhaps?"

"I approached Rebecca and Maria with the idea, I explained that I intended to organise and pay for the event myself, so that any monies raised would go directly to the charity.   As it was something I could do on a weekday, I could fit it around work. Then to my surprise and delight Rebecca offered to join me!!!"

Cllr Poll Have you ever done anything like this before?
"No, the only open aeroplane door I have seen is at departures." 

How are you feeling about the skydive?
"I’m not sure how I feel about it, apparently you can reach a speed of 120mph on descent, the speed is of minor concern!  More so the leaving a perfectly serviceable aircraft by anything other than steps!" 

"I have ridden motorcycles my entire adult life, I have reached speeds exceeding a free fall, on German Autobahns naturally, but this is different. On a bike one has control, steering and brakes for example, so to be dependent on the instructor may cause some concern. I won’t know until I get there I suppose..."

How will you plan for the jump?
"I don't plan to prepare for the jump. I'm sure I will need to wear good ankle height boots to save rolling on them on landing, but I intend to just keep busy and not think about it."

"I suppose that the best training is, not to ponder too much..."

When Rebecca was asked why she wanted to jump out of a plane she replied:

"Cllr Poll asked if we could have a quick catch up meeting, I was intrigued to hear what was on his mind.  He told me that he wanted to do something a little bit dangerous and different to raise money for The Chairman's Charity!"

"Previously I had taken part in a fire walk raising money for a local charity so I suggested that was a little different and dangerous!! Whilst Chris thought it was a good idea, Cllr Chris Poll had his own plans!!"

"As soon as he suggested the tandem skydive, I was yep I can do that! and voiced this before I had chance to think about it."
 
"20 hours later we were booked in to jump!!"

Everyone at AVDC are wishing Rebecca and Cllr Poll all the best in their daring charity fundraising mission!  Let's hope that it raises lots of money for Nest Aylesbury Vale a most worthy cause. 

Read on for more information on the charity...

Nest Aylesbury Vale  is a local charity that provides an accessible and equitable support service for families, with children under five, living in Aylesbury Vale. 

Sometimes being a parent is really hard; especially when the children are young. For some families it's a real struggle because they are having to cope with difficult situations like:

* postnatal depression
* illness or disability
* multiple birth 
* relationship break down
* bereavement
* isolation

That's when parents need support.  That's when Nest Aylesbury Vale can help.  We are a small, independent charity that provides home visiting volunteers who offer emotional and practical support.  We help families fly again!

For more information:

Phone: 01296 485615
Email: [email redacted] uk
Visit: www.nestaylesburyvale.org.uk

Please note 'Nest Aylesbury Vale'  Charity Number: 1119763  was previously known as 'Home Start Aylesbury'.