I was at a charity event at Clevedon Cottage Hospital in North Somerset and the nursing sister was talking about fund raising when some one else mentioned that they had been involved with the Crunchie Aerobatics team. One thing led to another and I jokingly said that I could go wing walking and we could do it for the hospital.

The next thing I knew it was early in the morning on the day that Clevedon’s Victorian pier was officially reopened  and I was at Bristol Airport. My next door neighbours from Bishop Sutton in the Chew Valley, where I then lived, came with me together with lots of friends who all parked themselves at the end of the runway, obviously thinking that that was where I was going to end up.

When we were taxiing out there were two or three holiday aircraft all waiting to take off. People were looking out and obviously thinking: what’s that nutter doing on top of that plane?

I had a camera with me and the pilot had said “You are not going to take that up with are you?  I said yes, why not and he replied: Well have you ever tried handling a camera in a 120 mile wind before?

I said it would be fine so after we too off we flew to Nailsea and over the tennis club where I planned to take some pictures but I nearly got decapitated by the weight of the camera around my neck.

Then we flew out over the Severn Estuary towards Clevedon Pier and then back again. I was amazed at how many trees there were. It was a real thrill and I had great fun doing it until it started to rain and I felt the effects of rain drops at 100 mph. It was like someone was firing glass pellets at my face.

But I got views of the pier and all the crowds that no one else got but at that time I was more intent on not falling off than with taking pictures. 

I’m not really scared of heights, which is a bit strange because my father and my brother suffer badly from vertigo. My father would not even look at the pictures of the wing walking. I wouldn’t for a second say that I was brave.

I felt a little bit nervous before I started because everyone thought I was bonkers but I did not have any fear while I was doing it.

I have abseiled off the top of Guys Hospital which involved climbing out of a 32nd floor window.

I guess I was probably in the air for 30 or 45 minutes but we did not actually raise very much money probably because no one though I was actually going to do it.

I have never done any more wing walking although I would not mind but there
are other crazy things I quite fancy doing like going swimming among sharks in a protected cage.

I’m pretty much up for any kind of adventure but I haven’t done a bungee jump because one of my closest friends is a professor of eye surgery and he said that the possibility of getting a detached retina is not a good idea.