Blackpool mum's jump will honour Pippy's life

A Blackpool church warden is set to mark her 70th birthday with a charity parachute jump.
Trisha Gardner who is doing a sponsored parachute jump on her 70th birthday to raise money for Macmillan Nurses in memory of her daughter Philippa ('Pippy') who died from breast cancer two years ago, aged just 37.Trisha Gardner who is doing a sponsored parachute jump on her 70th birthday to raise money for Macmillan Nurses in memory of her daughter Philippa ('Pippy') who died from breast cancer two years ago, aged just 37.
Trisha Gardner who is doing a sponsored parachute jump on her 70th birthday to raise money for Macmillan Nurses in memory of her daughter Philippa ('Pippy') who died from breast cancer two years ago, aged just 37.

As well as being an act of bravery, the challenge will also be a poignant one for Trisha Gardner.

For she is raising money in memory of her daughter who died from cancer two years ago.

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Philippa Pickering, known as Pippy, who lived in Pontefract, was just 37 when she lost her battle with the illness.

Now Trisha, of Langdale Road, Mereside, who is church warden for the Freedom Church on the estate, is hoping to raise several thousand pounds for Macmillan Cancer.

She said: “Pippy found out on her 30th birthday she had breast cancer but after treatment, she was clear for four years.

“Then she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She never gave up but she died a week after her 37th birthday.

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“She had a lot of help from Macmillan Cancer, and they were fantastic for her and us.

“I have been fundraising for them for a year and have already raised about £2,500.

“I’ve never done anything like a parachute jump before but it will be a tandem jump, so I will be strapped to someone else.

“People think I’m either brave or stupid, but I’m not worried about it. I just want to raise as much money as I can.”

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Former Montgomery pupil Pippy was a mental health nurse married to Anthony.

Trisha is due to make her jump on September 19 at the Black Knights Parachute Centre at Cockerham, near Lancaster.

To donate, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/pippypickering, and there are also collections boxes at locations including Mereside Post Office.

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