A GROUP of self-professed ‘go-for-it grannies’ have raised thousands for an armed forces charity by jumping from a plane.

Penny Deacon, 63, from West Bay, and friends Margaret Graham, Jan Speedie and Rob Percy took part in the skydive near Swindon.

Now the group has raised more than £2,000 for ‘Words for the Wounded’ which is a charity Penny set up in 2012 with Margaret.

Words for the Wounded raises money to help rehabilit-ation of injured people from the forces.

Penny said: “Margaret and I normally run a writing competition as a fundraiser but this year, we were inspired to do the skydive as an extra fundraising challenge to mark the centenary year of WWI.

“Once you make a commitment like this you can’t back out, but we are all really looking forward to it and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

“I moved to Bridport because I wanted to retire somewhere with lots of things going on; it is such a nice area to live in.”

Penny, a retired tea-cher, said the group’s next fundraising chall-enge is to go white-water rafting.

She added: “We are all in our 60s and you start to think there’s no reason not to. We are all fit so there’s nothing to stop us.

“We’re a bunch of go-for-it grannies, really.”

The skydive was equally ‘terrifying and fantastic’.

Penny said: “When you look out through the door at 10,000 feet, hanging over the edge, it is scary.

“Then you jump and it’s absolutely magical. I wasn’t prepared for how noisy it was going to be at first, but when we were freefalling there was this sudden silence and it was so peaceful.”

The group hope that the money will go towards helping veterans’ rehabilitation through creative work as well as through the physical support they are given.

For more information or to donate to the group, visit uk. virginmoneygiving.com/team/ flyinghigh4.