High Sheriff Fund – Our Skydive
10/03/2026
By 2025 Helen Bowden
Well, we actually did it! On Saturday morning, Sue Furnival and I, plus entourages, arrived at Salisbury airfield with a sense of apprehension and excitement. The grey skies we’ve been used to, parted to reveal blue skies. There was no turning back. After pretty perfunctory inductions we donned our boiler suits and joined 8 others, substantially increasing the average age of participants. Up we went, jettisoning the first three people at a mere 10,000 feet. At 15,000 feet and with planet earth disappearing into the distance I was next to go, seemingly flung head first out of the plane by my companion. What an experience! I’m still trying to decide if I enjoyed it. Sue may not need as long to decide, but suffice to say she was unable to join us for lunch! Thankfully, she is now recovered so I can say a heartfelt congratulations to her for going so far above and beyond to swell the High Sheriff Fund. It was a brilliant and selfless thing for her to do and I know colleagues, friends and family are proud of her.
We almost doubled our initial £3,000 target. That is fantastic news and thank you to all who so generously donated. I now have decisions to take on how it is allocated, but rest assured, I’ve seen first hand so many worthy contenders doing vital and often unheralded work in this county. Your donations will make such a positive difference.
The next time I reach 15,000 feet I’ll be making darned sure Easy Jet have the door shut!
Thanks again.