‘Bucket list’ skydive raises funds for Omagh charity

AN Omagh-native has ticked a major item off her bucket list while raising more than £1,400 for a local good cause with a charity skydive.

Charlene Bleakley, who now lives in London, wanted to try the adrenaline inducing experience before she turned 40-years-old last Friday, and took the opportunity to raise funds for the WAVE Trauma Centre in Omagh while doing it.

She told the UH, “I thought, I’m turning 40 and if I don’t do some of these things now, they’ll never get done and obviously skydiving is quite a major thing, so if I was going to do it, I wanted to make sure somebody else benefitted from it.

“I decided to pick WAVE and they have assured me that the funds will be spent locally at the Omagh centre. They do such great work and have so many people in and around the town and across the province.”

Charlene had originally hoped to experience the thrill before turning 30, but that didn’t materialise so her parents paid for her to take the leap as an early birthday present.

Accompanied only by her teddy bear, Barney, for good luck, the community development worker said while there were nerves during the build-up, these gave way once she was taking off for the clouds.

“I think it was because I hadn’t overthought it and the staff and other participants were fantastic, so it was a great atmosphere,” Charlene said.

The experience of jumping out of the plane was “indescribable,” Charlene continued, adding, “The parachute came out when we were in the clouds, so it felt like me and the instructor were
the only two people in the universe.

“We went from falling at 150mph to being what felt like being suspended in mid-air and a calm took over.”

While she described it as “almost a once in a lifetime experience,” Charlene has caught the bug and says she wants to do it once a year and eventually take on a solo skydive.

As a result of Charlene’s fundraising efforts, the trauma centre is set to receive around £1,443.

She concluded, “I’m extremely pleased and overwhelmed by the generous donations WAVE Trauma Centre have received, knowing many people in the local area will benefit from me being voluntarily pushed out of a plane.”

l A link to Charlene’s Just Giving page can be found on the WAVE Trauma Centre’s Facebook and Twitter pages.