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Grandmother, 87, of Round Street, Cobham, ready to leap 12,000ft from the sky to raise money for EllenorLions Hospices

Grandmother Betty Bicker Robinson is getting ready to jump 12,000ft from a plane.

The 87-year-old of Round Street, Cobham, is taking part in a tandem sky-dive to raise money for EllenorLions Hospices.

After the death of her second husband Edward John Robinson – known as Ted – to cancer in May, she decided to do something for the charity and when her grandson Robert Ingram made a joke about jumping out of a plane, she decided that was exactly what she was going to do.

Betty Bicker Robinson and her husband Ted
Betty Bicker Robinson and her husband Ted

It will take place on Saturday, September 13 at Headcorn Airfield.

Ted spent time in an EllenorLions hospice when he was taken ill on Boxing Day 2013 and Betty described the staff as simply wonderful.

She also lost her first husband Ernest Bicker to cancer 30 years ago and her son Robert Bicker who died aged 49.

Betty and her first husband Ernest Bicker on their wedding day
Betty and her first husband Ernest Bicker on their wedding day

EllenorLions made sure Ted had everything he needed and he returned home in February.

Betty said all he wanted was to go back and see the horses in the field opposite.

Betty married former milkman Ted at home the following month. She had first met him when she was 17.

Her outlook on life is still sunny. She said: “Love and a sense of humour, that’s all you need. You don’t need money.”

She was one of 10 children and spent time in the Land Army as a teenager.

She said: “I’ve been brought up on bread and jam – that’s what builds you up.”

She now puts all her spare time and energy into tending her garden at the house she has lived in since 1947.

She said: “As soon as I saw the house, I knew I’d never move.”

Betty Bicker Robinson is going to do a tandem skydive for the first time in September.
Betty Bicker Robinson is going to do a tandem skydive for the first time in September.

In recent years she has been in a helicopter, travelled around Scotland on a train and been up in a hot air balloon.

Betty is not worried about her sky-dive. She joked: “At my age, does it really matter?”

She just sees it as a chance to give something back to the hospice which helped her family.

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