{"id":8946,"date":"2024-08-25T12:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T12:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/woman-102-becomes-britains-oldest-skydiver\/"},"modified":"2024-08-25T12:35:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T12:35:02","slug":"woman-102-becomes-britains-oldest-skydiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/woman-102-becomes-britains-oldest-skydiver\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman, 102, becomes Britain’s oldest skydiver"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"GoldsterGoldster<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Manette Baillie, 102, from Suffolk has become the country’s oldest person to skydive<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

A 102-year-old woman has become the oldest skydiver in Britain after she jumped out of a plane at 7,000ft (2,133m).<\/p>\n

Manette Baillie took on the jump on Sunday at Beccles Airfield to celebrate her birthday.<\/p>\n

She has previously taken on other daring challenges including when she drove around Silverstone in a Ferrari<\/a> at 130mph for her 100th birthday.<\/p>\n

Mrs Baillie, from Benhall Green near Saxmundham in Suffolk, <\/b>told BBC Radio 4<\/a> immediately after her jump she was “breathless”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

“It was a bit scary,” she said. <\/p>\n

“I must admit I shut my eyes very firmly.<\/p>\n

“I just want other people who are getting towards 80 and 90 not to give up anything. Just keep going.”<\/p>\n

Prior to her jump, she told BBC Radio Suffolk<\/a> she had “no idea” where her thrill-seeking attitude had come from. <\/p>\n

“I’ve been so lucky to be fit and well that I’ve got to do something with it, that’s really the back of it,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I can’t just waste it, other people are crippled with arthritis and I’m not.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Baillie wanted to take on a skydive after hearing about a friend’s 85-year-old father who had done one.<\/p>\n

She was told as soon as he landed he wanted to do it again.<\/p>\n

“If an 85-year-old man can do it, so can I,” she said at the time.<\/p>\n

Mrs Baillie was even once married to a paratrooper and served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service during the Second World War but had never considered a jump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"UKUK Parachuting Services Ltd\/Goldster<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

She raised money for several charities through the skydive<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

“I’m doing it for charity,” she explained.<\/p>\n

“The first one is our local club, the Benhall and Sternfield Ex-Servicemen’s Club.<\/p>\n

“It’s the centre of our village and the only one we have for the community to get together.<\/p>\n

“It’s an old club, it was started at the end of the First World War for all of the ex-service people.<\/p>\n

“The second charity is the Motor Neurone Disease Association because I have a great-niece suffering from it and it needs funds for research.<\/p>\n

“The other is the East Anglia Air Ambulance. I’ve always been very fond of them.”<\/p>\n

The air ambulance once saved her son’s life on the Isle of Wight after a diving accident in 1969.<\/p>\n

She then began to support her local air ambulance charity in the East of England. <\/p>\n

Every Saturday, she now holds a coffee morning at her cottage with everyone chipping in to donate money. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"UKUK Parachuting Services Ltd\/Goldster<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mrs Baillie said she would likely keep her eyes closed as they jumped out of the plane <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Mrs Baillie said this would likely be her final fundraising challenge.<\/p>\n

“I shall be taking up knitting,” she joked.<\/p>\n

Britain’s previous oldest parachutist was held by Verdun Hayes who in May 2017 jumped at the age of 101 and 38 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Manette Baillie marked her 102nd birthday by jumping out of a plane.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goldster Manette Baillie, 102, from Suffolk has become the country’s oldest person to skydive A 102-year-old woman has become the oldest skydiver in Britain after she jumped out of a plane at 7,000ft (2,133m). Manette Baillie took on the jump on Sunday at Beccles Airfield to celebrate her birthday. She has previously taken on other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[3975,4702,4703,983],"class_list":["post-8946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-england","tag-britains","tag-oldest","tag-skydiver","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8948,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8946\/revisions\/8948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}