MOST pensioners would be looking to celebrate their 80th birthdays by sitting back with a sherry.

But not John Hemsley, of Sutton Courtenay, who took to the skies to celebrate his special day on Sunday.

And after jumping out of the plane at 13,000ft and parachuting to the ground – including 5,000ft of freefall – he said it was the perfect way to celebrate the milestone.

Mr Hemsley, a former managing director of the Oxford Mail and The Oxford Times who worked his way up the group after starting as a reporter in Cumbria, said: “I wouldn’t want to be doing it every day, but it was as exhilarating as I had hoped it would be.

“It was an excellent way to celebrate, I couldn’t have thought of anything better.”

Mr Helmsley, a father of four with seven great grandchildren, completed the jump in tandem with an instructor, who was strapped to him for the skydive. His family watched from the ground.

Mr Hemsley said: “When we reached 13,000ft, we sat on edge of the plane with our feet dangling out of the door. And then he rolled us forward, and we did a couple of somersaults before evening out.

“In the free fall the wind is pulling at your face. It’s not comfortable, but it is exhilarating.”

Despite having never skydived before, he said: “I wasn’t too nervous. I knew it would be perfectly safe.”

He said he did not know why he came up with the idea, only that he wanted to celebrate his birthday in a special way.

He said: “We wanted a family party to celebrate my birthday and we didn’t want the boring old thing of going to a hotel.

“I had to think of something else to mark the occasion, and this was the only thing I could come up with.

“I just thought it sounded like a good idea to make a special day of it.”

He is now beginning to set a precedent for his birthdays, having done white water rafting for his 70th.

But he said he had no idea what he would do for his 90th, adding: “I’ve got 10 years to think about it.”

He made the jump above Weston-on-the-Green airfield with skydiving company Skydive Weston.

Chief instructor Steve Scott said: “He’s a bit exceptional at that age.

“It’s not an every day occurrence to have an 80-year-old skydive – he’s done something quite special.”

He said the company would get only a “handful” of people Mr Hemsley’s age a year, saying most skydivers were women in their 20s fundraising for charity.

But he added: “There isn’t an awful lot that stops people doing tandems.

“We get disabled people coming through, servicemen that have been injured or lost limbs in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

But he said anybody over the age of 40 or with a medical condition needed to get permission from their GP to jump.

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