Mum to do parachute jump for Hackney hospice in memory of son Stephen

A meal supervisor at a Hackney school is getting ready to jump out of an aircraft at 10,000 feet.

Pat Parsons, who works at Grasmere School in Albion Road is doing a parachute jump to raise money for St Joseph’s Hospice.

The 66-year-old, who is looking forward to the birth of her first grandchild this year, will do the tandem parachute jump from an airfield at Maidstone in Kent and the first 5,000 feet of the jump is in freefall.

Mrs Parsons is also known to generations of children and their parents at the Clissold, Springfield and Haggerston One O’ Clock Clubs for pre-school children where she worked for 15 years. She also worked at the Coconut Nursery in Stoke Newington Church Street.

She wanted to raise money for the hospice in Mare Street which cared for her son Stephen who died aged 42 in 2009 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. He had earlier been treated for testicular cancer and recovered from that illness.

His father Colin will at the airfield to cheer Mrs Parsons on when she does the jump on July 17.

The couple have set up a fund-raising page at www.virgingiving.com/PatParsons or donations can be sent to St Joseph’s Hospice, Mare Street, Hackney E8 4SA stating they are to sponsor Mrs Parsons.