June 20, 2014 1.00 pm This story is over 116 months old

Lincolnshire firm raise £7.5k in 120mph freefall for charity

Charity plunge: Some 13 members of staff from Lincoln and Scunthorpe letting agent branches raised over £7,500 for cancer charities when they took part in a daring tandem skydive.

Some 13 members of staff from Lincoln and Scunthorpe letting agent branches raised over £7,500 for cancer charities when they took part in a daring tandem skydive.

The staff from Starkey & Brown Estate and Letting Agents were inspired to take up the challenge after two members of the team were diagnosed with cancer.

The team quickly decided to play a part and raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Ocular Tumour fund.

Thankfully, both members of staff suffering from skin cancer and eye cancer were given the all clear in 2013, and the company said they wanted to do something which helped them both through this traumatic period.

The brave skydivers completed their feat on Sunday, June 1 and have been collecting donations since.

Michael Brown, a director at Starkey & Brown, said: “Last year one of our members of staff was diagnosed with skin cancer while another staff member’s fiancé was diagnosed with cancer of the eye.

“In February this year I put the feelers out to staff from both Lincoln and Scunthorpe offices to see who would like to do a skydive and before I knew it 13 of them signed up.

“We have a great team at Starkey & Brown and I’m so proud of everyone involved, those who were brave enough to do the skydive plus everyone at both offices for raising more than £7,500.

“Every single member of staff was effected by what happened last year and the fact that they all wanted to get involved to give something back gives me a huge sense of pride.”

Lesley Joosub, from Starkey & Brown, added: “We are an incredibly charitable company and last year we supported Joel James, a young boy with cerebral palsy, by organising charity events and publicising his plight in our property newspaper.

“Due to the hard work done by everyone involved Joel raised enough money to go over to America to have pioneering surgery which has enabled him to now walk without being in excruciating pain.”