On August 28th East Durham Veterans Trust took on the challenge of organising the biggest fundraiser they had ever held, putting together a parachute fundraiser.
The East Durham Veterans Trust team had an early start at the parachute site, arriving before anyone else to ensure they could get a headstart in setting up stalls and preparing the arrival point for the 40 people who had given up their time to skydive in aid of the trust. Each of the skydivers were asked to raise a minimum of £400 to take part in the day.
The atmosphere began building early, people arriving along with their families and friends who were there to support them for the day. Before we knew it the first skydivers were in the sky and enjoying the euphoria of a then thousand foot plunge back to earth . The parachute's were whizzing over the top of the crowd with smiles and waves from the people taking part as well as the crowd on the ground below.
While all of the skydiving was going on there was so much happening on the ground below. We had the students from East Durham Community College who came along to sing a number of songs to keep the crowd entertained. There was plenty for the onlookers to enjoy while they listened to the music, with craft beer stalls, a tombola, a merchandise stall, a wax melt stall and of course not forgetting the donuts.
As well as all of this we had a fantastic raffle with over two thousand tickets being sold. The top prize was a 55" 4K TV donated by Tesco, closely followed by two signed Sunderland AFC shirts donated by the Great Annual Savings Group. These were accompanied by another 30 fantastic prizes.
The day finished at 7pm with the final skydiver taking to the skies. A long day but the atmosphere and the people in attendance made it so special.
All of the cash was counted and on the day £13,144.50p was made to go towards the running of East Durham Veterans Trust. This will allow the support of the armed forces community in East Durham to continue.