A WELL-known Cardigan charity organiser has raised over £7,000 for Wales’ top heart charity by sky-diving to celebrate his 65th birthday.

Pete Barker, chairman of the Cardigan branch of British Heart Foundation Cymru, said: “The aim was to raise £5,000, and I kickstarted raising funds by money donated for my birthday presents.

“It was quite scary as we took off from Swansea Airport and rapidly climbed to 1,200 feet. When we jumped it was into a thick blanket of cloud and we went in to freefall for eight seconds at 150mph before our chute deployed, allowing us to glide over Swansea Bay in beautiful sunlight.”

Jayne Lewis, BHF Cymru’s local fund-raising manager, (pictured with Pete) said: “Pete has been an inspirational chairman of the Cardigan branch for nearly 30 years and has inspired many local people to come on board with us to fundraise for our work to power important and life-changing research into heart disease.”

See this week’s Cardigan edition of the Cambrian News