Published: Wednesday, 20th August, 2008 12:30
Parachute jump marks Tilly woman's 60th birthday
By Iain Robertson
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Parachutist Margaret McMillan jumped from an aeroplane to raise funds for the Parkinson's Society.
A DAREDEVIL Tillicoultry woman has celebrated her 60th birthday by doing a parachute jump to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease.
Margaret McMillan lost her father to Parkinson’s four years ago and decided to support the charity by jumping out of a plane from 10,000 feet.
Margaret turned 60 on 4 July and, instead of birthday presents, she asked everyone to sponsor her charity jump.
The charity will now receive over £700 and Margaret is hugely grateful to the people who gave so generously.
She said, “I appreciate the donations that everyone made and I can’t thank them enough.”
Margaret had originally planned to jump on her birthday, but bad weather conditions put paid to that.
After another cancellation due to the weather, it was third time lucky for this gutsy lady when she finally made her jump on 3 August at Strathallan.
She was supported by family and friends decked out in t-shirts with images of her enjoying a few drinks.
“My mum was a bit shocked to see those pictures for the first time – you’re never too old for your mum to pull you up for having a few drinks!”
Parental lecture over, all eyes were on the tiny plane that Margaret was about to jump from.
And they didn’t have to wait too long for her return as she fell the first 5000 feet in three seconds.
“It was amazing – I was travelling at 120 miles an hour for those three seconds,” Margaret said.
At that height the parachute was pulled, and Margaret went on, “When the cord was pulled, for a split second, I felt nothing – motionless – like I could have walked across the sky. After that you just float down to earth, and take in the beautiful scenery.”
For many, one jump from a plane would be more than enough, but not for this 60-year-old.
“I want to save up now and do the free fall jump on my own,” she said. “It would mean three weekends of training – and give my mum more worry – but it is the next thing I’d like to do.”
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