Meet the skydiving gran raising thousands for SCAA

Staff and crew at the SCAA Perth base recently hosted a special visitor.

At 80 years of age, Aberfeldy local Irene Cattanach has added a skydive among her list of adventurous accomplishments.

Despite having a fear of heights, Irene completed her skydive in November of last year at Errol Airfield and raised £2,516 for SCAA.

Irene is known to defy expectations. The grandmother of six became the oldest contestant to appear on the Channel 4 survival show Treasure Island, hosted by Bear Grylls.

She was 75 years old when she was dropped onto a desert island near Panama with just a backpack, machete, knife, fishing line, two hooks and a torch for survival. Despite being the oldest contestant on the show, Irene endured five weeks on the island before returning home.

“That [Treasure Island] was genuinely a scary thing to do, you are dropped in the middle of nowhere without any food and you just sleep outside in the jungle or on the beach,” Irene explains.

“You have to be tough to stand up to that, I ate snakes and scorpions…basically whatever we could find to survive.

“But I still think I would do that again over a skydive!”

Irene admits she often ‘scares the wits out of her family’ with some of the things she signs up for.

The inspiration for her skydive came from a desire to do something dramatic to fundraise for SCAA.

“I’ve been raising money for SCAA over the years in various ways but as I’m getting older and I won’t be around for years and years, I was spurred on to do something bigger,” Irene comments.

“I agreed to the skydive before having properly thought it out as I am terrified of heights.

“It was a very frosty day to jump out of a plane, and that wasn’t helped when we boarded the plane and realised there was no door on it!

“Before I knew it we were shuffling to the edge and then I was tumbling through the sky. It was a horrible feeling – I kept my eyes closed. But once the parachute came out that was totally different, it slowed down enough for me to look at everything.”

Irene’s contribution of £2,500 for SCAA helps ensure the future of our life-saving service throughout Scotland.

Despite never having relied on SCAA personally, Irene knows of many people who have needed our services. Her recent visit to our Perth base gave the Perthshire local a further insight into how we operate.

“My visit to the SCAA Perth base was absolutely amazing,” she smiles.

“I’m so proud I raised that amount of money for the people here who go out in all weathers to all sorts of tragedies. My skydive was nothing compared to what the crew here do on a daily basis.

“It’s been a lovely day getting to meet some of the crew and the office staff, and also getting to sit in the helicopter.”

Not one to sit on her laurels, Irene has already told SCAA that she is interested in completing a charity wing walk later this year.

She laughs: “I would like the plane to do a big loop just to really scare my family!”