Skydivers have been taking to the skies in full Spiderman outfits to support 80 year old Mary Bates, who aims to raise funds and awareness of motor neurone disease after her son and 11 year old friend Oliver died of the disease.
Experienced skydivers at Skydive Langar, between Grantham and Nottingham, dressed as the superhero on 31st August in solidarity with Mary, who aimed to make her own Spiderman jump on the same day.
Unfortunately, weather conditions at Mary’s venue meant her own jump was postponed, though those jumping at Langar were treated to blue skies, low winds and a warm temperature for their Spiderman day.
Speaking of the attempt, Mary, who lives in Devon, said: “I will be throwing myself out of a perfectly comfortable aeroplane over the Devonshire countryside from 15,000 feet, hopefully accompanied by a handsome young tandem skydiver (and a parachute).
“The thought of this absolutely terrifies me but I am going to do it anyway!”
Laura Hampton, who works at Skydive Langar and helped to coordinate the Spiderman jumps, said: “Mary reached out to us directly to support her cause and how could we say no? MND is a horrible disease and the story of her son and his friend’s passing was just so sad. We know that many people choose skydiving as a way of raising money for a good cause and we loved the additional Spiderman theme so encouraged our skydiving community to take part.
“The day was a lot of fun and while it was strange at first to see so many Spidermans roaming around, we soon got used to it and had a lot of fun taking photos on the ground and in the sky.
“We wish Mary and her team all the very best when they’re able to reschedule their jump.”
The Spiderman theme was chosen in honour of 11 year old Oliver who died from MND. Mary continues to fundraise via her JustGiving page.
Find out more about Skydive Langar here.
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