Travel team reach for the sky for charity

The team at Hays Travel Aylsham are raising money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), with two of its members preparing to complete a skydive.

Elyse Hendry and Darcey White will be doing their fundraising jump on September 7 at Beccles Airfield.

CHARITY JUMP: Darcey White (left) and Elyse Hendry will take part in a charity skydive.

Travel consultant Elyse said: “The British Heart Foundation is a charity close to me and my family. “My amazing Grandad unexpectedly had a heart attack 10 years ago. This was a huge shock for our family as my Grandad lived a fit and healthy lifestyle.

“He recovered well and went on to have a stent fitted. Due to the important research the British Heart Foundation do, my Grandad is healthy and his bubbly self and has continued to make many family memories due to the fab work they do!”

Branch Manager Jo Dobbie added: “The British Heart Foundation is a charity close to my heart. Three of my family members have had heart conditions.

“My beautiful Mum had angina and an irregular heartbeat. She was fitted with a pacemaker in 2023 but sadly she gained her wings in April 2024. The care and support she received from the Cardiology Team at Norwich University Hospital was incredible.

“We chose the British Heart Foundation for donations at Mum’s funeral. I hope myself and my team can raise lots of well needed money for this fantastic charity, for diagnosing, treating and preventing the world’s biggest killer.”

As well as supporting the charity to honour family members, the Hays team are also inspired by a Cawston family’s story. Six years ago, Eddison Watts was born with Tetralogy of Fallot – four different congenital heart defects. He underwent emergency open heart surgery when he was only 10 days old at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London.

Eddison, whose parents are Jo and Graham Watts and who has two sisters – Georgia, 19, and Darcey, 14, has made a remarkable recovery from his operation. However, he doesn’t have a pulmonary valve, so he must have annual echocardiograms performed by Great Ormond Street cardiologists. It is anticipated that Eddison will likely need a pulmonary valve replacement in adolescence.

Visitors to Hays Travel can help to fundraise for the BHF by taking part in a competition to win a £100 voucher for Easton’s Holidays. All you have to do is pick a city and donate £2 per city you choose. The person who picks the winning city, which will be revealed after the charity skydive, will get the voucher. There is also a raffle with prizes up for grabs. It costs £2 for a strip of raffle tickets, £5 for three strips or £10 for seven strips.

The team at Hays are Jo Dobbie; Samatha Antoniades-Cork (Assistant manager); Lauren Willetts; Elyse Hendry; Darcey White; Bethany Cocker; Ele Dibble; Yasmin Murphy and Poppy Morgan.

If you would like to donate to Elyse and Darcey’s skydive you can do so via JustGiving at www.justgiving.com/page/haystravelaylsham