Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) continued its 40th Anniversary celebrations with a sponsored tandem skydive this weekend. Out of the 40 volunteers, only 15 were able to make the jump on the day as the event had to be postponed due to bad weather. But the pouring rain didn't dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic few who stayed on to show their support for RDA. They raised a total of £32,000 to support the provision of riding and carriage driving for people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties across the UK.

The team of intrepid skydivers included Jane Holderness-Roddam, RDA Chairman and the first woman to compete in Olympic eventing, winning a team gold medal at Mexico in 1968: Liz Stone, RDA Trustee and Paralympic Gold Medal winner, Sabrina Jordan of Fort Dodge Animal Health, Ed Bracher RDA Chief Executive and a further three members of the national office team.

Fort Dodge Animal Health, long standing supporter of RDA, started the ball rolling with a donation of £1,000 and Sabrina Jordan, Business Unit Manager, who raised a further £600 said: “The opportunities that RDA offers to their riders and carriage drivers is just amazing. Fort Dodge Animal Health has supported the welfare of RDA’s equines through the provision of vaccines for many years, but being able to do something amazing myself has been really great.”

Jane Holderness-Roddam, who has personally raised £10,000 said: “I will be stepping down as RDA Chairman at the end of the year and when I said I wanted to go out on a high I didn’t know it would be at 10,000ft. RDA is a fantastic organisation and with the support of its 18,000 dedicated volunteers across the UK will no doubt still be around 40 years from now.”

It’s not too late to pledge your support for Jane and Sabrina - visit the Just Giving website at the link below.