Grandmothers from Newbiggin to skydive together in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

Sonia Anderson, 55, Alison Horne, 67, Eileen Alderman, 72, and Nancy Charlesworth, 72, met only months ago but will be jumping out of a plane together on Sunday, September 24 in Peterlee.

Sonia said: “If we survive it is going to be an experience we can bond over for the rest of lives. Do not get me wrong, we are all excited, but oh my God are we nervous.

“But, you know, you only live once, and all of us have got the same attitude to life. Age is nothing. We get up in the morning and we do as much as we can.

“I still work. Eileen, Alison, and Nancy are involved in so many community groups. Age is nothing so why should we not jump? Life is too short.

“We are not old yet. We might be old in age, but we are sure as heck not old in our heads. We are all still 21.”

The group met while volunteering at the Elizabethan Hall in Newbiggin, turning the building into a community hub and garden.

“We did not really know each other. With Allison it was probably about five months in total before we decided that we are going to die together,” Sonia joked.

The self-described ‘Newbiggin Nana Ninjas’ are also running a coffee morning at the Elizabethan Hall to help raise funds for the charity, which provides care and support to people with cancer and their families.

Sonia said: “My father got diagnosed with cancer and he died two weeks after he got diagnosed, but he wanted to come straight home. He got home at three o'clock in the afternoon from the hospital and at five o'clock Macmillan were there, and they were there every day.

“They are like angels, they really are amazing, because they have got the most empathy I have ever seen in anyone. They will bend over backwards.

“They are a special breed of human being, I really do not know where they come from.”

The group has already raised hundreds of pounds so far from cash collections and their online fundraiser at gofundme.com/f/4-ladies-skydiving-for-macmillan-cancer-research.