Bedford Lodge Hotel & Spa’s Head of Housekeeping, Kay Blanchard, and Restaurant Manager, Manfred Seibert, have taken part in their first ever sky dive to raise money for Niamh Henry’s Fairy Wish Fund, the charitable organisation the Hotel is supporting for the coming year.
The dive took place at Beccles Airfield and both staff members completing a dive of 12,000 feet, raising over £1700 in total.
When asked about the dive, Kay commented: “I initially thought of doing a parachute jump when the Hotel announced the Niamh Henry’s Fairy Wish Fund as the organisation we are supporting this year – the work it achieves makes such a difference and I really wanted to get involved. I briefly mentioned the idea to Manfred and when I came into work the following day he had booked it so there was no going back!
Niamh Henry’s Fairy Wish Fund raises money for C2, the children’s cancer unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the children’s Rainbow Ward at the West Suffolk Hospital, the paediatric counselling services at Addenbrooke’s, and Stars, which is a community based counselling service in Cambridge for bereaved children.
Kay continued: “My Dad is a cancer survivor, and he told me the hardest part of his treatment and subsequent recovery was the unfairness of seeing children suffer. This really stuck with me and I wanted to help. The jump has raised money which may go to something as simple as a much needed weekend away for a child and their family, but it will make a huge difference.”