A British woman celebrated her 102nd birthday on Sunday by skydiving from a plane more than 2,000 metres above sea level, saying upon landing that she hoped to motivate other older people to stay active.
Manette Bailey, who was married to a skydiver, admitted the jump, which took place in eastern England, was “a bit scary” and that she had to “close her eyes very tightly”.
When she arrived, she also admitted to the BBC that she was “very out of breath”.
“I just hope that people who are approaching 80 or 90 years old don’t give up on anything. We have to keep going,” the centenarian declared.
“I'm very lucky to be fit and healthy, so I have to do something about it,” she added.
This skydive allowed him to raise money for charities, including the East Anglia Air Ambulance.
The idea of skydiving came to her recently, when she heard that a friend's 85-year-old father had tried it.
“If an 85-year-old man can do it, I can do it too,” she said.
It wasn't Manette Bailey's first amazing birthday: on her 100th birthday, she drove a Ferrari around the Silverstone circuit at 210 km/h.
