Eight Lovett Care staff from The Grand in West Bridgford and Ruddington Manor jumped at 15,000ft for Destination Florida, passing a £5,000 target in one day.
Eight members of staff from Lovett Care, the operator of The Grand on Greythorn Drive in West Bridgford and Ruddington Manor at Ruddington Gardens, NG11 7HL, have raised more than £8,500 for a children’s charity by jumping out of an aeroplane at 15,000ft.
They had signed up for a lower jump. The group booked the 11,000ft tandem skydive at Black Knights Skydiving Centre at Hillam Lane, Cockerham, in Lancashire, then decided on the day to upgrade to the centre’s 15,000ft jump, which Black Knights advertises as the highest tandem skydive in the UK. The charity they jumped for, Destination Florida, confirmed the date and the venue in its own thank-you post on 27 August, which says the team “recently took on a skydive at Black Knights Parachute Centre” and have “already smashed their fundraising target”.
That target was £5,000, and Lovett Care had given itself until April 2027 to reach it. The skydive passed it in a single afternoon.
“You free fall for 50 seconds”
Katie Westwick, head of marketing at Lovett Care, was one of the eight. Her account of the jump, sent to us in full, is the best description of what the upgrade actually bought them:
“The skydive was terrifying! When you jump you free fall for 50 seconds which is scary and incredible in equal measure, then the parachute comes out and you can breathe a sigh of relief! It takes about seven minutes before you land back on land. It was such an amazing experience, one I am glad to have done and would definitely recommend.”
The step up was not a small one. Black Knights sells three tandem jumps, and its published prices on 24 September 2026 were from £150 at 7,500ft, from £219 at 11,000ft and from £244 at 15,000ft. The centre is at Hillam Lane, Cockerham, and can be reached on 01524 791820.
The charity the money goes to
Destination Florida is a registered charity, number 1003674, run from The Sharp Project on Thorp Road in Manchester. It takes children facing serious illness and other significant challenges on an eight-day trip to Florida’s theme parks, and it does it every two years rather than every year.
The charity’s own account of itself is worth reading before donating. The first trip ran in 1988 with 25 children, organised by Doctor David Evans and Sister Alex Shaw with help from British Airways ground staff, after a group of northern children were nominated for a Florida trip through a London charity and were not chosen. It registered as a charity in 1991, was granted the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2020, and says it has now sent 1,600 children on a trip. (Destination Florida, About)
Each trip travels with what the charity calls a mobile hospital: 110 professionals, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and adult helpers. The 2025 trip took 71 children from the north of England for eight days across Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, with a team-building day, a Cirque du Soleil show and a final night celebration built in.
The next one is in 2027, and nominations for a place on it are open now.
What this means locally
Lovett Care says it has picked Destination Florida as its chosen charity for the next six months because of those trips, and that the skydive was only the start: more challenges and events are planned over the coming months.
The two homes involved are both on this side of the Trent, and both are in Rushcliffe. The Grand is on Greythorn Drive, West Bridgford, NG2 7GG, on 0115 828 4099, in the Lutterell ward. Ruddington Manor is on Ruddington Gardens, NG11 7HL, on 0115 981 5956; Lovett Care gives it a Wilford address, but the postcode sits in Rushcliffe’s Compton Acres ward rather than in the city, according to the ONS postcode record. Both are run by Lovett Care, which says it was named a top 20 large care home group for 2026.
One thing worth knowing if you are thinking of giving: Destination Florida’s trips are for children from the north of England, which is how the charity defines its own catchment, so money raised in West Bridgford supports children from a wider area than Nottinghamshire.
How to help
- Donate or fundraise: destinationflorida.org.uk
- Nominate a child for the 2027 trip: nominations are open, via the charity’s news and events page
- Volunteer: the charity recruits both medical and non-medical volunteers for each trip, through the same site
- Do your own jump: Black Knights runs charity skydives from Cockerham, bkpc.co.uk
If your club, school or workplace in West Bridgford or the Rushcliffe villages has raised money for something, tell us and we will write it up.
Sources: Lovett Care, statement and photograph supplied to West Bridgford Live, 24 September 2026; Destination Florida Children’s Charity, About and News pages, checked 24 September 2026; Black Knights Skydiving Centre, tandem skydive prices and contact details, checked 24 September 2026; Lovett Care, care home pages for The Grand and Ruddington Manor.
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