THERE can be several ways firms choose to celebrate a special occasion, but jumping out of a plane is not usually one of them.

Yet that's what six intrepid staff of Moreton-in-Marsh estate agents Hayman-Joyce decided to do as they marked the firm's 25th anniversary with a fund raising effort for charity. Alex Turnball jumped in aid of Orchard Bank in Blockley, a non-profit making housing association, while others jumpers supported family support charity Home-Start and Midlands Air Ambulance.

The action involved tandem skydiving from a plane at 13,000ft over Hinton airfield at Brackley, Northants, reaching speeds of 120mph on the way down.

After the adventure Mrs Turnball and Tom Hayman-Joyce, one of the firm's partners, visited Orchard Bank to present a cheque for £1,086.81 to the trustees and meet the residents over a glass of wine. Part of the money will be used to improve the projection facilities for regular film afternoons.

Orchard Bank is a small non-profit making housing association set up in the 1960s by doctors Frank and Jean Haine. Local GPs, they realised elderly people remained independent for longer if they had a good balanced lunch every day, a warm flat and some company. Orchard Bank has eight individual apartments with a central dining room and kitchen for people aged over 60, who are able to live independently.