Wigan mum to face her fears with skydive to help raise £40k for lift at children's centre

Terrified Emma Eastham will face her fears and take on a skydive from 15,000ft on Saturday.

She could reach speeds of up to 120mph as she plunges through the air at Skydive North West, in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria.

She is raising money to help pay for a lift to provide disabled access and allow an extension to the upper floor at Brighter Dayz, a centre in Goose Green providing respite care for children and young adults with complex health needs and disabilities.

Emma, who is operations director at Brighter Dayz, said: “I’m petrified. I am actually scared of heights. The nerves are beginning to kick in.

"I chose something dramatic to try to raise the funds. We needed £40,000 for the lift and we’re around halfway there. Obviously we want to get it put in as soon as possible, because we now have a waiting list of children so we need to get upstairs up and running as soon as we can.”

Emma, whose son Alex has complex health needs and disabilities, opened the centre in 2021 with former staff members from Hop, Skip and Jump in Wigan following its closure in 2020.

There has been so much demand for the services at Brighter Dayz that the team is planning to expand, but needs a lift to provide access to the upper floor for people with disabilities.

A fund-raising appeal was launched last autumn to collect the £40,000 needed for the lift.

So far Emma’s skydive has raised £1,265 in sponsorship and she has set herself a target of £2,000.

It will be added to the money already gathered for the lift, which includes a £5,000 grant from the Screwfix Foundation and cash raised through a sponsored walk from Halsall to Wigan Pier, regular raffles and a Christmas fair.

Parents have boosted the fund with sponsored running challenges and the Freemasons Arms pub also held a fund-raiser.

To sponsor Emma and support Brighter Dayz, go to www.gofundme.com/f/brighter-dayz-charity.