A daredevil granny is skydiving 12.000ft for charity.

Lilian Cardy, 78, from Whitfield in Dover, is taking the leap to raise funds for Hythe Salvation Army.

She will undertake the tandem jump at Headcorn Airfield next Wednesday.

She said: “I grew up in the wartime so I wasn’t able to do anything like this skydive so I’m really looking forward to getting in and then out of that plane.”

The grandmother-of-six has never let age get in the way of adventure, having already since her late 50s experienced a helicopter ride, a glider flight and a hot air balloon ride.

The keen adrenalin hunter once persuaded a a tour guide to lend her his briefcase so she could sledge down a section of the Austrian Alps.

She said: “The hot air balloon was a little too slow for me. I’m not frightened at all about getting up to great heights and speeds.”

Mrs Cardy is particularly keen in helping an organisation like the Salvation Army in providing help to the needy.

She and her husband Jonas experienced tough times when he was unemployed as an result of the 1984-85 miners’ strike.

He was made redundant from a television shop in their home town of Seaham in Durham.

The community had a heavy economic reliance on the coal industry and the miners’ loss of spending power had a domino effect on other jobs.

It was because of this that the couple moved down to Kent for work.

“I grew up in the wartime so I wasn’t able to do anything like this skydive so I’m really looking forward to getting in and then out of that plane" - Lilian Cardy

Mrs Cardy attends the Salvation Army Church at Portland Road, Hythe, and has been a lifelong member of the organisation.

She has even written to people who are unwell or unable to attend church so that they know they are missed.

Lieutenant Callum McKenna, the minister co-leading Hythe Salvation Army church, said: “Lilian is granny to many, having also taught generations of children in our Sunday school and parent-and-toddler group.

“Despite being almost in her 80s, Lilian wanted to do something to raise funds for the Salvation Army in its 150th year “

Jonas was a member of the Band of the Parachute Regiment, a non-combative role so has not jumped from an aeroplane himself.

People wishing to donate to Mrs Cardy’s fundraiser can contact the Salvation Army at Portland Road, Hyther CT21 6EG or donate via www.justgiving.com/skydiving-lilian.

Or it can be done via texting LSKY78 £5 TO 70070 (or insert other amount).