A 70-YEAR-OLD’s leap of faith has raised more than £1,750 for a Dorset charity.

Wendy Barfoot took part in a skydive in aid of Diverse Abilities Plus, which looks after disabled children and adults in the county, to mark her 70th birthday.

But her chosen charity was particularly close to her heart, as it was originally founded by her mother Phyllis after Wendy’s sister Marilyn was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of three.

Phyllis was initially advised to send her daughter away to an institution, but placed an appeal in the Daily Echo asking for other parents of children with cerebral palsy to contact her.

A committee of nine then set up the Dorset Spastic Society, which later became Dorset Scope and is now known as Diverse Abilities Plus.

The charity opened the Centre for Spastic Children in Stafford Road, Bournemouth in 1963, and set up Langside School for children with cerebral palsy in 1959.

Phyllis, now 94, eventually had to stop working with the charity due to ill health, but Wendy’s father John was also chairman for many years.

Marilyn is now 63 and living in supported accommodation in the community.

She also attends Barnabas Day Centre in Poole, which will benefit from new tables bought with the money Wendy raised.

Wendy, of Mellstock Road in Oakdale, Poole, said: “I must also say a big thank you to all the staff at Barnabas and all the carers in supported living.

“They all work extremely hard caring for people like Marilyn.

“I don’t know what we would do without their help and support. I don’t expect that they realise that they are continuing the dream that my mother had 56 years ago when she founded the support group which now continues under the name of Diverse Abilities Plus.”

• To find out more about the charity visit the website diverseabilitiesplus.org.uk