FIVE brave souls from Budehaven Community Schools' support staff are preparing themselves for a 10,000ft freefall; parachute jump in April to raise money for Cornwall Air Ambulance on Sunday, April 12.

The five staff members concerned are Tom Westlake, Stuart Knower, Mark Tootill of the reprographics team, Shirley White and Clare Brown, the headteacher's PA.

They are set to join a small band of charity fundraisers for whom coffee mornings, bike rides or cake sales just aren't quite enough.

Leaping out of an aircraft to then fall earthward at 120mph might seem the thing of nightmares to most but to this group it's the collective realisation of a lifelong ambition and it's all thanks to a pint of milk — while visiting his local supermarket Stuart began talking to a Cornwall Air Ambulance fundraiser who had a stall at the entrance and his attention was grabbed by a 'Skydive' leaflet.

He said: "I've always dreamt of trying a freefall jump, ever since seeing the Red Devils at an air display as a child.

"I thought I'd ask my work colleagues if they fancied it, thinking they'd say no, but was more than pleasantly surprised when they all thought it was a cracking idea.

"It's going to be quite a mission to collectively raise the £1500-plus we need, but the thought of providing Cornwall Air Ambulance with even enough money for one sortie is well worth every effort.

"Living in a rural community as we all do the air ambulance provides a genuine life-saving service that many of us have seen first hand.

"As a school we have called upon their services on a number of occasions and this is a way of saying thank you and giving something back. The pilots and paramedics are real heroes and they deserve as much support as we can provide."

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.