Jump’s Tommy jumps!
Video above produced by North London Skydiving Centre.
We already think that Jump’s Senior Designer Tom Holmes is a bit of a hero. Not only is he a fantastic animator but he once competed on BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee, can do backflips … and creates fiendishly tricky virtual treasure hunt games like ‘Cawthorne’s Curse’ for the Jump Team.
His recent escapades have been even more impressive (and vertiginous) and has raised an enormous amount of money for charity along the way. We asked Tom to tell us all about it.
Tom Holmes – Senior Designer & Animator at Jump:
“Having bravely just successfully finished chemotherapy for breast cancer, my friend Pam wanted to do something to raise money for Chemo Gift Bags. They’re a local charity who provide people going through chemotherapy with essential items to make their experience a little bit more bearable. She said that it was such a help that she wanted to do something for them.
Pam had done a bungee jump in the past and felt that she wanted to do something unique and challenging … and a skydive ticked the boxes. When asked, I said I’d be more than happy to join her in her charity raising efforts and of course do something crazy like jump out of a plane at 10,000ft!!!”
“The morning before the dive I felt nervous but also excited. It was such a beautiful day, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. The skydive took place at North London Skydiving Centre in March, Cambridgeshire. We pulled up at the airfield that was in the middle of nowhere and got out of the car. It was SO quiet and serene. I think this really helped calm both of us down.”
“While we were waiting for our turn we were watching other planes go up and seeing people jumping. You would think that would make us more nervous, but at this point we were just ready to do it!”
“The experience was amazing. The instructor was awesome, the staff were so friendly, the plane journey was exciting and the actual jumping out of a plane at 10,000ft bit … That was surreal.”
“There was a solid 30 seconds of complete freefall where all I could hear and feel was wind rushing past me.”
“When the parachute opened and we made the 5 minute descent down to earth, I just kept thinking how it all didn’t look real.”
“It didn’t feel scary because I didnt feel like I was up in the air. It was like I was just looking at a huge ultra-realistic photograph. At one point I was given control of the parachute and did a few spins and turns, and then before I knew it, I was lifting my feet for landing. It was such a rush and I was so buzzed when I was back on terra firma.”
“I really made a concerted effort to take it all in and not let it all whizz by. It was such a pleasure to do something with Pam for a wonderful charity and to have such a generous response from all those who donated.”
“We started off aiming for £500 but we’ve ended up raising £5,187 which is absolutely amazing. Speaking to the founder of the charity that evening, she was so incredibly grateful and told us just how much that money is going to be able to do.”
This was such a fantastic effort by Tom and Pam for a great charity. We’re so proud of them and super impressed.
If anyone would like to donate they still can by using this link here.
Thanks for sharing your adventures with us Tom – and the video above which was filmed by the Skydiving Centre.
Bravo and well done.
