At the age of 72, many might be happy to settle down to a quiet life – but Helen Hayward has other ideas.
The resident of Great Cornard, near Sudbury, is preparing to take to the skies this summer for a sponsored wing walk in support of a local emergency first response charity.
On July 6, she will stand harnessed to the wings of a flying aircraft, with the goal of raising funds for Suffolk Accident and Rescue Service (SARS).
It is the latest in a sequence of bucket list activities for Helen, including a helicopter ride over the capital, a parachute jump, abseiling and axe throwing.
She said: “I’m 72 this year and there are lots of things I want to do.
“I don’t want to get older and think, ‘I wish I had done that’. It started because I was watching the London Marathon on television and thought, ‘that looks fun’, so then I decided to run it and the list built from there.
“I don’t want to be a boring nan who just sits there and does knitting. My granddaughter went abseiling with me – how many people can say they have gone abseiling with their nan?
“This wing walk is the last item on the list for now. My grandchildren bought it for me for Christmas.”
To donate to the cause, go online to www.justgiving.com/page/helen-hayward-1714989041745.
Helen, of St Andrew’s Road, said she decided to raise money for SARS as it was one of the chosen charities at Stephen Walters and Sons in Sudbury, where she still works three days a week.
“I’m doing it for SARS because I thought, ‘you never know when you might need them’,” she said. “I want to raise at least £1,000.”
