Sunderland dad in daredevil wing walk for children's charity

Jim Farquhar performed a daredevil wing walk in aid of Children North East.

Jim, 44, said he felt exhilarated and “free as a bird” as the 1940s biplane he was strapped onto soared 500 feet into the air before diving to just 50 feet off the ground.

“You can ask the pilot to either take it easy or give you the full experience and I went for the full works,” said Jim, chief operating officer for Nicholas Postgate Academy Trust, in Middlesbrough.

The wingwalk has so far raised £975 for the region’s oldest independent children’s charity, Children North East, but Jim’s fund-raising is continuing for the next week if people would like to help him top £1,000.

Jim, who lives with wife, Adele and 11-year-old son, Harry, in Ryhope, has fancied doing a wing walk for several years but it took the experience of lockdown to spur him on and tick it off his ‘bucket list’.

“I’d not committed to it before lockdown but partway through, I thought, ‘right, given everything that’s going on, I’m going to make sure I take up a few of the things I want to do’,” he said.

“When I was looking for a charity I wanted something North East-based and Children North East jumped out, particularly with my links to education,” he said.

Last year Children North East worked with 17,751 primary and secondary pupils in schools around the North East and another 25,324 pupils in other areas of the country through its Poverty Proofing the School Day initiative.

And during lockdown the charity has distributed 2,000 activity packs to children to help them do their school work at home.

“It’s nice every now and then to be outside your comfort zone and feel that fear and nervous anticipation,” said Jim.

“Adele thought I was a bit crazy but she just let me get on with it.

“Harry couldn’t quite comprehend what I was doing until he saw the video – now he says I’m a superhero.”

If you’d like to sponsor Jim, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jim-farquhar3

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