OVER the past year the Lady Mayoress of Leeds has been involved in a variety of fundraisers for St Gemma’s Hospice.

Next week, however, Councillor Pat Latty will be taking things to literally a new level - when she jumps out of a plane.

Cllr Latty, whose husband Graham is the Lord Mayor, will undertake a tandem parachute jump with a member of the Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team at Salisbury Plain on Tuesday, April 30.

The couple, from Rawdon, are already on course to surpass the £45,000 target that was set for the 2018-19 mayoral appeal - enough to fund a nurse for a year.

Cllr Latty, on the donation page she has set up for the jump - at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/patricia-latty - explains why the hospice is such a deserving cause.

She said: “St Gemma’s Hospice...have worked tirelessly with the community of Leeds for 40 years to ensure that when local people face the end of life it can be pain free, dignified and peaceful.”

The Lord Mayor said: “We had heard of other people who had raised money doing a parachute jump and Pat quite liked the idea. Shortly afterwards we were at an armed services event and Pat got talking to the CO of 4th Battalion Parachute Regiment (Reserve) who are based in Pudsey, and mentioned the idea to him.

“He was immediately very keen on helping and his efforts have made it all possible. We will be going down to Salisbury Plain for the 30th - though if the weather is unsuitable we have fall-back dates of May 21 and 22.

“Pat will be strapped onto the front of a paratrooper, taken to a great height and will be carried initially in free-fall and will then float down: hopefully to the tune of money going into the collecting box.”

He added: “Pat has said she is so unworried by the prospect that she is starting to worry about not being worried -and wonders if she has missed something! She has also pointed out that as she has already paid for her funeral arrangements, what is there to worry about?”