EMPLOYEES from a North-East telecommunications firm have been given the high jump after the boss paid for them to do a sponsored skydive for charity.

Michael Parkington, operations manager of family-owned Signal Telecom, agreed to foot the bill for eight members of his staff to plummet more than 10,000 feet above County Durham, in aid of Butterwick Hospice Care.

The group, which has a head office at Catterick Garrison and another site at Stokesley, has raised more than £1,000 for Butterwick Hospice Care so far, with donations continuing to roll in.

The staff members who took the 120mph plunge were Marc Fowler, Stacey Harrison, Rebecca Herd, Tom Atkinson, Alison Swash, Dannie Jones, Michael Ruddock, and Donna Hislop. All eight daredevils completed the jump successfully.

Marc Fowler, Signal’s business account manager who organised the skydive team, said: “Signal do a lot of work with Butterwick, and when you visit the hospice and you see for yourself what they do, you feel like you’d do anything to raise money and help out.

“Skydiving has always been on my bucket list, and when we met the fundraising team at a Butterwick event and learned they were organising this, I knew we just had to do it and raise as much as we could.

“We had an incredible time and some of the team are looking at even taking it on as a hobby!”

Butterwick fundraiser Kathryn Brocklesby said: “It’s just fantastic to have eight people from the same company coming together to do this for our hospice. We’re very grateful to our jumpers, to Signal, and to everyone who has supported them.”

To support the Signal team’s fundraising, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/signal-telecom.

Anyone interested in skydiving for Butterwick Hospice can contact the fundraising team on 01388-603003.