Derbyshire businessman with a fear of heights will take to the skies strapped to the wings of a plane for charity

Graham Weighill, 62, who admits that he is “far from an adrenaline junkie”, will brave a wing-walk on September 23 – weather permitting – in aid of Ashgate Hospice.

He is fundraising in collaboration with his friend Councillor Martin Thacker, who has chosen the hospice as his charity of the year during his second term as chairman of North East Derbyshire District Council.

Graham, who works as a buyer for medical engineering firm BeaconMedaes Ltd, said: “I was asked to be a member of the chair’s appeal and after completing a fire walk last year I decided to set myself a new challenge.

"I’ve been looking at different challenges and you can’t get much bigger than a wing-walk so I thought I’d go for it! I don’t like heights but you have to overcome your fears.”My friends and family say I must be daft! I’ve had a few people ask me if I’ve been practising but I’m not sure there’s much I can do! It will be more of a mental challenge than anything.”

It’s the second time Councillor Thacker has fundraised for the hospice as part of the chair’s appeal. Between 2021 and 2022 his team raised £79,500 towards end of life care across north Derbyshire.

Graham hopes he will be able to help contribute a four-figure amount to Councillor Thacker’s pot when he braves the wing-walk at an airfield in Cirencester.

He said: “Ashgate Hospice is a very worthy cause and I’m proud to be fundraising for the charity. People assume wrongly that the hospice is Government funded and it’s obviously reliant on donations.

“You never know when someone in your family might require the hospice so doing what I can to support it can only be a good thing.”

Ashgate Hospice must raise £9 million over and above NHS funding to fund its services for patients in their own homes and at its site in Old Brampton, Chesterfield.

You can make a donation to Ashgate Hospice on Graham’s JustGiving page