Tillie’s Skydive
We talked with Tillie, who many of you may recognise as one of our friendly faces at our front reception desk, about her skydive she took on in September to help fundraise for the Hospice.
“I booked to take on this skydive with my friend Jamie during lockdown as I was getting restless being stuck in my house and wanted to do something adventurous and also help to fundraise for the Hospice. Unfortunately, it got cancelled many times due to weather, but finally, after a long wait, I was able to take it on in September 2022.
Waiting to get onto the plane which would take us 15,000ft up in the air was incredibly nerve-racking and I started to feel a bit scared, but once we were in the plane, the energy from everyone got rid of all of those feelings. The plane was full of people and everyone there was just so uplifting and gave off a wonderful atmosphere, they really turned my emotions a full 360 and I was getting really excited. Looking out of the window from so high up in the air and seeing the land so far below was surreal especially considering I was about to jump out into it.
When it was finally time to jump, my friend Jamie went first and I was going fifth. I didn’t really even have time to get scared again as it all happens so fast, they scoot you over to the door and then you’re falling. It was quite scary to be falling from so high up, with the wind blowing loudly all around but once the cord was pulled and we went into the slow descent I became quite calm. To be able to see the countryside from above was amazing.
As we got close to the ground, I got a bit worried as we had been given instructions on how to perfectly land and not hurt yourself and I was afraid I’d mess it up. But I actually nailed it and had a smooth landing! Being back on the ground was quite a relief until I looked around and couldn’t spot Jamie, turns out he had asked his instructor to turn it up a notch and do some spins to really scare himself!
I would definitely do it again as apart from the few scary parts the entire experience was really fun and gave me such an adrenaline rush that I was feeling amazing for weeks! From start to finish everyone was super uplifting, from those in the Café to the Instructors themselves everyone gave off a wonderful energy that really made the whole experience so much more enjoyable.
To anyone who is considering doing a skydive, I’d say you have to go for it! It’s such a great experience and doing it as a fundraiser for a great cause also makes it much more special.”
