Skydive and mountain trek raise £10,000 to boost Hannah's Holiday Home Appeal
TWO fundraising events bringing in £10,000 have been a ‘lifesaver’ for a charity providing free holidays to children with cancer.
Hannah’s Holiday Home Appeal had to cancel more than 65 trips for families due to Covid-19, and with all of their fundraising events cancelled, founder Pam Marshall was delighted to gain support from a parachute jump and a mountain challenge.
Horndean businessman Lea Jackson and his daughter Jessica, 21, threw themselves from a plane in a bid to support the appeal, before Lea joined a team of friends and colleagues just a week later to climb three Welsh mountains in nine hours.
Lea, who owns Jackson Groundworks, said: ‘It wasn’t very nice watching my daughter go out of the plane first. It was a crazy thing but one of the best days I have ever had.’
The 52-year-old, who has supported the charity for years and saw this challenge raise £6,000, added: ‘When I realised what Hannah’s Holiday Home does for all these children, I thought I have got to do something. I think it’s amazing.’
On August 15, Lea joined colleague Dan Till and Pam’s friends Leanne Bushnell and Vicky Frost to climb Tryfan, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr in Snowdonia National Park for a further £4,000 boost.
Vicky Frost, 42, said: ‘It was good fun, it was very hard but one of the best things that we have done as a team.
‘Nine hours solidly on your feet walking up mountains, it was well worth it to hear Pam’s voice and she was so grateful.’
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Leanne spoke in awe of Pam, who set the charity up in memory of her daughter Hannah Westbrook who died in 2004 from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, aged 10.
The 40-year-old said: ‘Pam is an amazing woman, she’s really inspirational. What she has gone through in the past and what she continues to do for people never ceases to amaze me. She is one in a million.’
A delighted Pam said: ‘To have this money coming in has been a lifesaver, it’s really been fantastic. These two fundraising events have been incredible and taken the pressure off to let us breathe.’
To learn more and donate, visit hannahsappeal.org