It was a perfect day for diving. Clear blue sky, no wind. But today we weren't diving under that cloudless sky, we were diving THROUGH it!

We arrived early, signed in and by 9:30 Jenny, Nicky and Chris were briefed, kitted up and heading out to the plane. Jenny and Nicky decided to get videos, so they jumping separately, accompanied by their instructors for "tandem" jumps. David, Cleggy and I met up with Doug. Ex-army, he had lost count of the number of people he had pushed out of planes. We were glad to have someone with so much experience as our instructor.

We soon got started on the training. Two bits of good news straight away: For one, as it was a small group, we were going to get to jump that very afternoon! Second: we were going to be given the flash square parachutes to jump with! Cool.

Out to the field to take a look. Just in time to see two tiny dots high up in the air. "That Nicky!" said Ian excitedly. I stared up. It looked like a very, very long way up.

Nicky and Jenny back down to earth safely, the rest of the gang gave them the hugs and congratulations while we got on with our training.

As the day progressed we learned that "Square Parachutes" were in fact "Ram Air Canopies". We learned how to fly them, and where and how to land them. We got run through our jump from start to finish. We tried out the simulators; we spend time jumping off things and rolling around. We learned the theory and we practiced the drills. At first it feels a bit silly, but you pretty soon get used to shouting "ONE THOUSAND, TWO THOUSAND, THREE THOUSAND, FOUR THOUSAND, CHECK CANOPY!" at the top of your lungs.

The others disappeared off horse riding for the day and left us to enjoy the burgers from the van for lunch. There are lots of parallels between skydiving and scuba diving: the way it’s taught, the checks and double checks, the mix between theory and practical, but the one that struck me most was the burgers. You know the ones - those very special little treats available at dive locations throughout the UK.

Training done and we jumped. It was fantastic. You would have to do it yourself to understand the adrenaline high we were on for the rest of the night!

We stopped briefly on the way back to buy far too much champagne and beer, then straight on to the barbeque party at Nicky’s parents’ farm. It was my birthday and they even got me a cake (thank you!).

It almost seemed the evening was electric with relief and adrenaline. We had a fine time - especially when we lit the bonfire. A bit of a tradition with Nicky’s dad apparently, we stood happily around while he regaled up with tales for his farm while Janos (I like Fire) Suto tried to see how big a lump of tree he could throw on without setting the woods alight. Paul swore he saw him walk right through it at one point.

It must have been funny for Mike - arriving to be told "Fetch Buckets of Water!" The woods were finein the end though, and we enjoyed the rest of the bonfire trying to get though all the beer we bought. It defeated even us.

It was a fantastic weekend. Thank you so much, Nicky - and family, for organising it, and for putting us up and feeding us so well. We had a fantastic time. We raised nearly £1,000 for the Marine Conservation Society, so it was worthwhile too!