Flushing resident 85 year old Mariquita Hichens, alongside her daughter and grandson, took part in a 13,000 ft sky-dive to raise money for charity.

Mariquita, along with daughter Carenza Wilton, 60, and grandson Josh Wilton, 25, travelled to Hinton Skydiving centre near Banbury on Sunday, September 13, to complete the jump.

Falmouth Packet:

Mariquita is widow of well-known county councillor Robert Hichens who passed away on January 8, 2020. Robert was chairman of the local Sea Cadets and a governor for Penryn secondary school before stepping down due to ill health.

The family fundraised over £4,000 for Community Housing and Therapy, which has helped support Mariquita’s other grandson, Ollie Wilton, who has been diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder.

Falmouth Packet:

Ollie Wilton

Carenza said: “We wanted to do something positive in this otherwise pretty grim year.

“Lots of people in Flushing donated. They didn’t quite believe mum was going to do it!

“On the day when we came to do it there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

“We had to wait for five hours which was a bit nerve-wracking, and it was quite tiring as you have to sustain the adrenalin feeling. but despite the build up we really enjoyed it.

Falmouth Packet:

Sky-divers Josh Wilton, Carenza Wilton and Mariquita Hichens.

READ NEXT: Mayor congratulates resident on centenary birthday

Ollie lives in one of Community Housing and Therapy’s houses and the money raised by the jump will be used towards building a sensory room.

Carenza added: “We had three birthdays to celebrate, so had three cakes. We had a celebratory glass of champagne afterwards. Mum was very tired that night but the next day she woke up full of beans again.

“I am very proud of mum. She has a head for heights!

“She had her hip replaced a couple of years ago so I was worried about her landing but luckily she landed very smoothly. We did lots of practising landing on the ground before.

“My dad was always a real daredevil himself so he would have been really proud of her.”