Hays Travel agent completes skydive in memory of baby daughter

Hays Travel branch manager Peter Holgate has completed a skydive in memory of his baby daughter, with more than £2,000 set to go to charity.

Holgate, who manages the agency’s Cheltenham shop, plunged from 13,500 feet on Sunday (June 28) to raise money for Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK. His daughter Stephanie died from SMA Type 1 at seven months old in January 1997.

He revealed the hardest part of Sunday’s task was standing on the side of the plane in the seconds before the dive, adding: “I tried saying, ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’, but that didn’t work.”

Holgate, who completed the challenge at Wiltshire’s SkyDive Netheravon, home of the Army Parachute Association, said it was “awesome” to have raised £2,160 following donations from 70 people.

His shop’s regular customers were among those who contributed, with Peter Bell and Dianne Godsell sending £100 each.

Holgate said the money would be going to a “great cause” and noted the progress made in recent months.

From October this year, he said, 70% of postcodes in England will follow Scotland’s lead by including SMA as one of the rare conditions covered by the newborn blood spot test.

“It needs to be available to everybody, but this is a huge starting point,” he added.

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/page/peter-holgate-1