THERE probably aren’t many elderly grannies who’d fancy plunging 12,000 feet in a skydive.

But fearless and feisty 83-year-old Trish Wagstaff is not one for sitting down too long and this month will be taking on her next daredevil challenge to raise thousands of pounds to help sick children at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The former army wife,from Appleton, said: “Usually I do something mad each year for charity. Last year I did the high zipwire in Wales, which is the longest one in Europe and raised £11,500 for Thames Valley Air Ambulance.”

In the past the grandmother-of-two has gone paragliding and once went swimming with sharks.

She first decided to take on a “mad” challenge seven years ago, one year after husband Peter, a Major in the Royal Scots, died.

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Now her friends always ask her what she is doing next.

During her life Mrs Wagstaff, who will turn 84 in January, has raised more than £120,000 for Oxford’s Sobell House Hospice alone – a charity she has volunteered for nearly 30 years.

She did her first skydive for them around seven years ago, her first charity event, which raised £7,500.

In December 2012 the grandmother was honoured for her services to charity with a British Empire Medal which she said was “absolutely incredible”.

Now she is getting ready to fall thousands of feet in order to raise funds for a heart lung bypass machine for extremely ill babies.

Mrs Wagstaff, whose husband Peter was with the Royal Scots until the early 1970s, added: “I have supported Great Ormond Street Hospital since 1992. This year I was going to take part in powered paragliding but I heard someone really hurt themselves and my daughter told me not to do it.

“So I’ve chosen a skydive. I don’t mind heights at all.”

The pensioner has already done one skydive, in 2008, and does not plan to put an end to her adrenaline-filled activities any time soon.

She said: “I want to wingwalk, but they won’t let you get sponsored. They will let me join the wing walking team but I don’t want that.

“I want to do a one-off and raise money for charity.”

Mrs Wagstaff also visits a terminally ill woman every week through Age UK project OxBEL (Oxfordshire Befriend End of Life).

She has lived in Appleton since 1975, having lived all over the world while her husband was in the army, including Egypt, Cyprus, Malta and Germany.

When she is not fundraising she is singing in Appleton for a cappella group – Harmony InSpires – as well as for the church choir.

She also runs the Evergreens club for people aged 60 and over, plays table tennis and enjoys gardening.

Mrs Wagstaff will be completing her skydive in Brackley later this month.

  • To sponsor Mrs Wagstaff’s tandem skydive, which is on August 25, call 01865 862952.