New retiree Bill Bradley from Chester has decided now is the ideal time to take up sky-diving!
The 78-year-old, affectionately known as ‘Bargee Bill’, who steered the restaurant boat at the Mill Hotel & Spa, Chester, for over 20 years, has decided to support his local charity Bird (Brain Injury Rehabilitation & Development). And to do so, he’s going to take on his first ever parachute jump; a tandem jump on November 3 at Turnhill Airfield, Whitchurch.
Bill said: “I chose to support Bird because I’m aware what amazing improvements their work brings about with children who have a brain injury of one kind or another, so I’m really hoping people will sponsor my sky-dive.
“I wanted to do something for Bird that would make people sit up and take notice – and hopefully, doing my first parachute jump at 78 will do just that.”
The Bird charity treats people of all ages with a wide range of conditions from mild learning difficulties to Asperger’s Syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, and profound disabilities – as well as people who have suffered injury to the brain from strokes or accidents, for example.
Around three-quarters of the people Bird helps are children. For most of the people BIRD has helped, it was previously thought that no further improvement was possible, yet over 90% of everyone coming to Bird shows a marked improvement.
Charity manager Helen Schielke is delighted Bill chose to support Bird. “It’s an incredible challenge Bill is taking on,” she said, “and the fact that he chose our small charity to support is a genuine honour.
“Every penny makes a real difference to the lives of people with a brain injury and everyone connected with Bird wishes Bill good luck.”
Anyone wishing to sponsor Bill’s jump can visit his Just Giving page at https:// www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Bill-BIRDmanBradley . To learn more about BIRD’s work, please visit www.b-i-r-d.org.uk or the Facebook page www.facebook.com/bird.charity.9?fref=ts .
