An 18-year-old woman braved the skies for the first time jumping out of a plane at 3,500ft, in a determined bid to raise funds for charity. Toni King, of Ayelsbury Road, Bromley, made the jump to help Great Ormond Street Hospital, despite learning someone had died at the same airfield only a week before.

She said: "I have never flown before. I decided to do this jump because my aunt was doing it, so I signed up on my 18th birthday." Speaking after the jump at Headcorn Airfield, Kent, Miss King said: "I was terrified. All sorts of nasty thoughts crossed my mind, because just the week before someone had died there. It didn't stop me though. I was determined to do it. It was terrifying. The scale of what I was doing didn't hit me till I reached 3,500 feet, but I didn't hesitate, I was determined to jump. You don't think about it too much, you just jump. I would do it again, it was great fun."

Toni, a marketing associate with Pearl insurance in Orpington, raised £400 which will go to the Connects WoolLy Hat Club which helps raise money for children at Great Ormond Street.

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