A DAREDEVIL granny has jumped from a plane to raise more than £15,000 to help sick children.

Former Army wife Trish Wagstaff has been completing charity stunts since her first skydive seven years ago, shortly after her husband of 53 years, Peter, died.

But on Saturday the 83-year-old marked a new milestone, by raising a personal record of more than £15,000 in sponsorship for one event.

Mrs Wagstaff leapt 13,000ft from a plane with instructor Stuart Meacock, after setting off from the Hinton Sky Diving Centre at Hinton-in-the-Hedges Airfield, in Northamptonshire.

The plucky pensioner said it was a wonderful experience, despite plummeting to the ground at speeds of up to 130mph.

She added: “It was very cold up there, freezing, and very noisy.

“But once they pulled the chute it was lovely, it all goes quiet, you can look around and see the scenery – it was wonderful.”

Born in 1932 the grandmother-of-two has been helping good causes since she was nine years old, when she would pick up elderly people’s rations during the war so they would not have to queue.

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 where she has volunteered for nearly 30 years.

In 2012, mother-of-two Mrs Wagstaff, who has lived in Appleton near Abingdon for 40 years, was honoured for her services to charity with a British Empire Medal.

Since the death of her husband – once a Major in the Royal Scots Regiment – in 2007 Mrs Wagstaff decided to do more daring fundraisers, and has been abseiling, paragliding, swimming with sharks and on a high zipwire course.

She said: “I thought there was no good sitting here feeling miserable and sorry for myself.

“That’s when I started doing these mad things, much to the horror of my family.”

But to raise the mammoth £15,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital Mrs Wagstaff has knocked on nearly 2,000 doors across 14 villages asking them to sponsor her skydive.

Although she is running out of ideas, Mrs Wagstaff is still up for adventure and is trying to plan another event next year.

She said: “I am pleased, very pleased – people have been so incredibly generous.

“I don’t know what there is left, I have been up and I have been under.

“People will sponsor someone of my age and there are so many charities screaming for help.”

The cash will be put towards buying a new £167,000 heart bypass machine to help children born with a variety of heart conditions.

Mrs Wagstaff will also complete a skydive in Brackley near Bicester on August 25.

She has a daughter, Sheena, and a son, Keith, a 25-year-old granddaughter, Emmie, and grandson Tom, 29.

* To sponsor Trish call 01865 862952.