AN adventurous pensioner who is losing her sight will fall thousands of feet from the sky in a tandem parachute jump.

June Ridgway, of Kidderminster, suffers from macular degeneration - an eye condition that causes the gradual loss of central vision.

She is determined not let it get in her way, however, and decided to take the plunge to raise cash for charity.

The 83-year-old, of Cotswold Close, began to follow her ambitions when she was 60 and by the age of 70 had gained an orange belt in kickboxing.

She said: “I’m really excited to do the parachute jump. I’m quite an adventurous person and I’m quite fit.

“When I turned 60 I thought ‘I have got ambitions and I’m going to go for them’.

“I had never been abroad or learned to drive and I have done all of those things now.”

The mother of three, who has had laser eye treatment and two cataracts removed, added she hoped to raise hundreds of pounds for the air ambulance and guide dogs.

“I have never done anything for anybody and my eyesight is getting worse so I thought I should quickly do something for charity, “ she added.

“A parachute jump is something I have always wanted to do. I’ve done everything else I wanted to do so I thought I would try that. I want to carry on doing things like this for as long as I can.

“When I found out I had the condition I thought perhaps it would get better. The doctors can’t do anything about it so I have got to get on with it.”

The grandmother of 12 will do the tandem jump, a combined freefall and parachute jump, from Brackley BPA Jump School on Tuesday, October 7.

“I’m not nervous about the jump - I’m excited,” she said.