Girlguiding NWE Skydive

On June 2nd, 2024, 11 members from around Girlguiding North West England head to Cockerham in Lancashire to take part in a fundraising event to raise money for Region. The event was to do a tandem skydive at the Black Knight Parachute Centre. 

Our session was booked in for 12pm and everyone on the skydive team had arrived on time to get signed in, our team included Orion, Helen and Betty who all have roles at region HQ, Myself and Gill from Cumbria South, Simone from Lancashire East, Louise from Cheshire Border, Isabel from the Wirral, Rosa from Lancashire South East and also Mollie and Kai. We also had other members of Region come to support the team throughout the day which was lovely! 

Once we were all signed in, it was lovely to get chatting to everyone, there were definitely some nerves as we didnt know what to fully expect, but also a lot of excitement! Many of us had also upgraded from the 11,000ft jump to the 15,000ft jump, which is the highest in the UK. 

Just after 12pm all of our names were called to go through to the onsite classroom where we watched a short video about the day, safety and a bit more about the skydive itself. 

After this we made our way, with a lot more excitement, back to the spectator area. Within a few minutes the centre called for 5 members of the team to make their way to the preparation area to get ready. Once they were in their jumpsuits they made their way to the safety area to wait for the instructors. It was really nerve wracking watching the first group get ready, but they made their way to the plane and we got to watch them take off and after a few minutes saw the first parachutes open. 

Once they had landed, it was so exciting to see that they had all enjoyed the jump and the rest of us were ready to go but had to wait a little longer whilst the instructors prepared and got ready! Another 3 names were called for their jump, once they had landed, another 2 were called, and after what felt like a really long wait, it was finally the last pair's turn, which included me!

We went over to the preparation area with our instructors and they helped us get ready, including finding our jumpsuit size and getting our goggles, before equipping our harnesses and practising the landing technique. Once this was done, we headed over to the waiting area for everyone to be ready and wait for our instructors to come through. Shortly after, once everyone was ready to go, we made our way over to the plane. There were 3 of us jumping on our flight, all from 15,000ft! The plane took off and we went out over Morecambe bay and out towards Blackpool, luckily we had a really clear sunny day and you could see all the way over to the Isle of Man. Whilst we were still making our way up to 15,000ft our instructors were letting us know what height we were at, checking to see how we were and talking us through the process such as adjusting our harnesses. Once we were at 15,000ft, we shimmed down the plane one by one until we were at the open plane door. At that point, I was so excited to jump and felt so much adrenaline! 

Once I was out of the plane, it was such an amazing feeling of free falling, which lasted about a minute, then the parachute went up and we were then slowly gliding down and you could see for miles. My instructor pointed out landmarks such as Blackpool tower and the Black Knights centre where you could see all the spectators watching. Once back on the ground we were welcomed back to the centre by the skydive team and got our certificates for the skydive, one from the Black Knights centre and also one from Girlguiding NWE!