TWO North Lancashire friends in their sixties have teamed up to do a skydive to raise money for a charity which supports donkeys, horses and mules.

Ginny Watts, of Bolton-le-Sands, and Barbara Cronogue, from Over Kellet, will be jumping 10,000 feet from a plane to raise money for animal welfare charity Brooke.

They will be taking on the challenge on March 3 in Grange-Over-Sands and together have already raised £350 of their £1700 joint target.

Barbara, who is afraid of heights, admits the skydive was Ginny’s idea.

“Ginny is the dare devil, I’m just the numpty that tends to go along with things," she said.

The pair met 10 years ago when Ginny brought her horse Dan to the same yard as Ginny’s horse Beau and they instantly bonded over their shared love of equines.

Ginny said: “I want to help relieve the terrible suffering of the wonderful equines who work so hard to support people in third world countries. I wanted to do something extreme to really attract people to donate.”

As the day of the jump gets ever closer the pair are starting to get rather anxious.

Barbara said: “When it’s over I will probably celebrate with a large gin and tonic, then if I’m all in one piece I will get myself off to the world modern jive championships on Sunday afternoon and dance my feet off.”

Brooke is a global animal welfare charity helping working horses, donkeys and mules. It works with owners, communities, governments and international organisations to make lasting improvements to animal welfare.

Brooke’s current campaign, Every Horse Remembered, marks 100 years since the end of WW1 and highlights the struggle of working horses, donkeys and mules of the past and present. Thanks to fundraisers like Ginny and Barbara, Brooke will build better lives for future generations of animals, and their owners.

To sponsor Ginny and Barbara’s skydive visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ginny-watts or

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/barbara-cronogue

To find out more about Brooke visit: www.thebrooke.org/everyhorse