The Eagle Has Landed! My 13,000ft Sky Dive Experience...

It was a gorgeously sunny and calm day yesterday afternoon on the south west coast of Wales. 13,000ft above sea level, somewhere above Swansea Airport, I was sitting hunched up in a 'plane, ready to free-fall back to Earth!

As I have mentioned already in this blog, I was doing it to raise money to buy defibrillators for our rural communities here in mid-Wales as a part of the British Heart Foundation Cymru's two-year £200,000 appeal.

I was also doing it in memory of my Dad Lance Cole who died 10 years ago next month and who survived open heart surgery when I was a child.

The Jump
As eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed, my jump had been postponed twice the previous weekend due to poor weather but this Sunday, it was thankfully, 3rd time lucky!

I arrived with Alyson at 4pm yesterday afternoon at Swansea Airport where we were joined by one of her best friends Sarah and also my brother Stephen, sister-in-law Anthea and their children Seren, Jacob and Mared who were on their way home to Pembrokeshire from a weekend in Cardiff. We were also latterly joined by good friends Nick Tregonning and Claire Waller. It was great to have them all support me and Alyson during the coming hour!

For on our arrival we were told that there would likely be a 45 minute wait until my turn to take instruction. This didn't worry me and I was quite happy to wait a while. Suddenly, within a matter of minutes, the public announcement system called 'John Cole' back to reception to say that they could squeeze me on the next flight!!

So it was that I was given a crash-course in everything I needed to know (which, because I was doing it tandem with a qualified instructor, wasn't much!) and within half an hour of arriving on site, I was jumping into the 'plane with another 3 'students' and their instructors!

It was a leisurely, relaxed ascent to the spectacular height of 13,000ft where, because of the beautiful weather, we could see right across Swansea Bay. It was a majestic setting.

So how did I feel? Well for one who isn't keen on heights, surprisingly relaxed...up to a point! The whole thought of being thrown out at that height wasn't worrying me all that much. What? How come you ask?! Well because in my own head I had long prepared myself for it by suspending the reality of the situation and exchanging it with the logical reality of what was about to happen. I had at the forefront of my mind of course the memory of my Dad and also the hundreds of people who have so generously donated to my appeal to see me thrown out in the first place! So backing out was not and indeed was never an option. So in that regard, I already knew I was going to do it and it was just a matter of getting my head into a place of ease with what was about to happen.

Yet whilst throwing yourself out of a plane isn't a normal every day occurrence (unless you were my instructor Mick who answered my question in the 'plane of his experience with the throw away response that he had done "over 3,000 jumps"!!), I just logically moved myself to the place which said that for these experts, it actually really was. There are normally it turns out between 20-40 jumps a day each weekend in Swansea when the weather allows and I've never heard of one there having gone wrong! Indeed, a friend who sponsored me who had himself Sky Dive'd before told me that he was told on his day that the safest thing statistically that he would do that day was the jump - he was more likely to have an accident on the road getting to or from the airport or in the plane on the way up, than he was on the descent! For a logically minded chap like myself, these were good statistics!

So it all helped me to prepare myself for what was to happen and to allow myself, as much as possible, to enjoy the ride without becoming over-run by a complete fear and panic on lift-off!

The only issue I did have as I was waiting to leave the 'plane at 12,000ft, were to remember the hastily arrranged instructions that I had been told just minutes earlier on the ground. 'Head back, chest out, legs back and crossed at the knees...like a banana'. Oh, and when tapped on the shoulder by instructor Mick, to let go of the straps and to wave to the camera!! Easy hey!!

Thankfully, the logical side of my brain kept the thought of panic in check and on being hauled out to the edge (and just to compound matters, as well as being the last into the 'plane, I was the first out!!), I just readied myself to remember these few basic, simples instructions.

The Free-Fall
The free-fall was surreal! We were apparently dropping for some 40 seconds without a parachute at the rate of 125mph. It was going so quickly that I almost couldn't take in the enormity of the numbers. It's like flying in a plane at 30,000ft when you know that you're travelling at around 600mph but because everything is so far below you, it feels as if you are serenely gliding across the sky!

The Sky's the Limit!

The rush was incredible but I was indeed able as instructed to enjoy the fall, lift my head up and wave and 'thumbs up' to Ant our similarly free-falling camera-man!!

Then at around 6,000ft, the parachute was deployed and it was quite a 'pull-back'. Then all-of-a-sudden, we were just floating down gently on what light wind there was back down to Earth. Mick did some turns which gave a great panoramic of the wonderful Gower Peninsula and I could just take it all in after the rush of the free-fall, before we made a perfect landing (with my legs hitched up high to allow Mick to take the hit as instructed!).

It was over so quickly. Indeed, when I landed and met up with everyone who had to come to watch, I found to my amazement that it was only 4.50pm! It had all been done and dusted in less than one hour!

Would I do it again?! Oh come on folks...hell yeah I would! But having said that, I'm not one to push my luck and will happily give others an opportunity to go first before I go again!

The Fundraising
But what it all meant was that everyone who has so kindly sponsored me to the tune of over £4,200 (which rises to over £4,700 including Gift Aid), have indeed got what they paid for! Indeed, I'm told by Ant that he has some 70 still photos of the fall as well as the filmed DVD which I paid for. They will all be sent to me in the post hopefully by this weekend but in the meantime he has sent me this one photo that you can see here. Not the most flattering photo in the world maybe - but when you're flying at 13,000ft, some things just have to be taken on the chin!!

Thank you most sincerely to everyone who has donated so far and if you haven't yet done so (or indeed, are happy to do so again as many have!) then please donate here at the link below to help me reach a final grand total of £5,000 before I close the appeal on Friday 7th June.

http://www.justgiving.com/John-Mark-Cole

Going, Going, GONE! Goodbye to Cardigan Castle's Stanchions!

Back here on March 8th, I wrote about the removal of the first of the 3 stanchions from Cardigan Castle.

Those horrible buttresses had been apparently propping up the Castle at the gate-way to the town at the end of Cardigan Bridge since 1975. They were only supposed to be temporary supports whilst the walk bridge was built alongside the river but until now, they have remained.

The work on the castle continues in earnest with the planned date of opening set for next Spring. But whilst the internal works will continue throughout this summer and into the winter away from the eyes of local residents, the sight of those horrid external stanchions always weighed heavily on the minds of those living locally who despised their very being.

Goodbye to the Final Stanchion!
As I wrote back in March, it was expected that the final 2 stanchions would be removed within a matter of weeks. As of yesterday morning, the remaining 2 both remained and I was expecting one of those to come down imminently with the final one to leave its 'temporary' home by the end of this month.

So it was with no shortage of shock and incredulity that, as a Trustee of Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust, I received a call from fellow Trustee Sue Lewis at 7pm last night saying that the final piece of the final stanchion was to be removed inside the next 20 minutes!!

Thankfully I happened to be at home in Cardigan at the time and without a moment of hesitation, I made my way down to the quay to see a little bit of Cardigan history in action.

Goodbye to the Stanchions!
Couresty of Louise Noakes Photography

Andrew Scott, the on-site construction team at the castle, very kindly gave those of us Trustees who had managed to make the last minute scramble down to the quay, an opportunity to climb up onto the scaffolding for a final photo with the final stanchion before its removal, minutes later.

So it was that I stood alongside original Cadgwan Trustees Jan Tucker and Richard 'Dick' Thomas, as well as current Trustees Sue Lewis, Sandra Davies and Hedydd Jones as well as Mark and his team from Andrew Scott's for a final photo-call after 38 years (see pictured).

As a historian first-and-foremost with a love of Cardigan Castle that stretched back to my childhood, it was a truly wonderful moment and I was particularly pleased for Jann and Dick who have been fighting for the restoration of the castle for the past 15 years, to finally see the last of those iron girders.

There are many, many others who have campaigned for this same goal as well in our community and beyond and today is a day for them. A day for Cardigan. A day for our castle - standing proud once more without the need for supports that were never required in the first place.

The potential is there for all to see and now we have the clearest manifestation of progress that the community could've wanted.

'Cardigan has a Castle' has been the almost ironic response from local residents in recent weeks after the first stanchion was removed. You bet it has!

Why I'm jumping 12,000ft for the British Heart Foundation

Last month, I mentioned here in my blog about my decision to try and raise over £2,000 for the British Heart Foundation by undertaking a 12,000ft Parachute Jump.

Dad and Mam being given a BHF
Wall Plaque in appreciation for their
fundraising efforts

The response I have received in the 5 weeks since has been brilliant and I have now raised £990 - tantalisingly close to that £1,000 mark! Thank you to everyone who has contributed already to this brilliant figure and whilst I must accept that I have been shameless in my requests of friends so far, I do not apologise for it because it is a cause close to my heart.

But even once I break that £1,000 mark, I still have the same amount and more to raise before I can comfortably say that I've raised enough to pay for 2 new defibrillators as a part of the British Heart Foundation Cymru's latest appeal.

The jump itself will be on Saturday 11th May so there's only 4 weeks to go, so expect the shameless requests to those who have yet to contribute to continue! I will wear you down!

Supporting the BHF - A Family Affair
As it happens, I today found on the family farm at Eglwyswrw, old newspaper clipping from the 1990s that demonstrated my parents commitment to this worthy cause.

The 1999 Narberth Observor article on
the purchase of a new ECG for Narberth
Health Centre - principally sponsored
by my parents Lance & Enid Cole

They gave a whole days worth of gate takings at their Dyfed Shire Horse Farm in Eglwyswrw to the British Heart Foundation on a number of occasions.

As the photos here show, both played a significant part in raising important funds to purchase a new Electrocardiograph (ECG) machine for Narberth Health Centre.

This is why I'm raising money for the BHF - because my parents both did so in recognition of their gratitude after Dad recovered from life-saving open heart surgery.

On the 10th anniversary of his passing in 2003, it is only right that I re-iterate our family support for the BHF and I would greatly welcome all donations, large and small, to my online site which can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/John-Mark-Cole.

Thank you on behalf of myself and my father Lance, for your support. With it, we can make a real difference.

Cardigan makes The Sunday Times 'Top 10 Places in Wales to Live' list

It doesn't surprise me, but it is nevertheless very pleasant to see some national coverage of what is a well known fact in these here parts - that Cardigan is a beautiful, up-and-coming town with so much going for it and is a great place to live.

This Sunday Times 'Top 10 Places in Wales to Live' list didn't only name Cardigan as one of its 10, but the editor actually picked the town as her personal favourite! Quite right too!

Every community has its nay-sayers, those 'the fields are always greener on the other side' brigade - that's just human nature I'm afraid.

But with great inward investment and the longed-for completion of the restoration of our Castle and of the soon-to-start building of our new hospital both on the near horizon, as well as a vibrant community life, steeped in history, culture and tradition, I really couldn't think of many better places to live.

Could you?!

One small stanchion for man, One large stanchion for Cardigan!

Today was THE day.

After 38 years of waiting, the first of the 3 stanchions/buttresses that have apparently been holding Cardigan Castle together were removed this lunchtime in an event supported by the Welsh media and hundreds of local residents that lined Cardigan Bridge and Prince Charles Quay.

As this BBC Wales article and clip of the moment itself shows, it was a wonderfully epic moment for an event a long time in the making.

Today, I shed the chains of office and my role in local government and was once more that young child that would cross Cardigan Bridge back in the late 1980s/early 1990s and look up in awe at that imposing, secretive, impenetrable Castle with those hideous, ghastly looking stanchions, apparently propping it all up.

This lunchtime, that boy with a love of history saw the first dismantling of those 38 year old monstrosities!

It has been a fabulous day for Cardigan and in a matter of just a few weeks, all 3 will be gone and consigned to the history of our minds.