A CHARITY based near Chipping Norton has teamed up with Experience Chipping Norton and Nicholsons Garden Design to be part of a record breaking skydiving attempt.

Disadvantaged children and young people in Africa will be the winners when trade and tourism ambassadors, ECN, and Nicholsons employees take the plunge from the skies above Brackley and Salisbury airfields on June 11 to raise money for the Rafiki Thabo Foundation.

More than 300 others will simultaneously jump for the charity of their choice at eight airfields across the UK to break the record for the most tandem skydives in a 24-hour period anywhere in the world.

Organiser Janet Hayes said the foundation, which supports education projects in Kenya, Uganda and Lesotho is asking people to raise £395 in sponsorship money in order to jump for free. In turn, the charity will receive an average donation of £145.

“In addition to this, every extra pound that you raise over the minimum comes straight to the charity, so please try to raise as much as you possibly can," she said.

“Chipping Norton is a great place to run a charity. Although our beneficiaries are far away from here, in Africa, we receive fantastic support from the local community – people come to our events, are very receptive when we talk about our work and support us in countless other ways. Experience Chipping Norton pulls out all the stops to support us – one talk at one of their meetings has led to more opportunities than we could ever have imagined & we feel privileged to be one of the charities they have chosen to support in 2016. The idea of a team taking part in this World Record Attempt came from ECN and two of its members have already signed up."

ECN is the local business, community and tourism network. It has promoted the foundation’s work since 2015 and helped launch the ‘Rafiki Sandwich’ project, which raises funds through a number of food outlets in Chipping Norton for a school meals program in Uganda.

Nicholsons is a North Oxfordshire-based business that designs, builds and installs gardens. Nicholsons supports the Rafiki Thabo Foundation in many ways, including sending a team out to Kenya in January 2016 to build a tree nursery at a secondary school in Voi. Owner and Director Liz Nicholson said: “Education is a real passion of mine and the chance to assist others in gaining an opportunity that would otherwise be denied them is a real privilege.”

More information can be found at: www.rafiki-foundation.org.uk