Member Article

Company Saved the Day to Take Super Gran on Birthday Flight

A 95-year-old great grandma almost missed out on a special birthday flight over Derbyshire following the sudden closure of a flying company.

Eunice Roe, a resident at Milford Care’s Ashbourne Lodge, arrived at Ashbourne Airfield with her family and staff from the care home on Sunday morning to fly in a Tiger Moth only to discover that the original company would be unable to accommodate her booking. Luckily, another company, Airways Airsports, stepped in to save the day and took Eunice up in a microlight, free of charge.

Her son Matt, who booked the flight, said: “Airsport Airways looked closely at their schedule and very kindly managed to re-arrange a lesson so pilot Stephen Oliver could take mum up in a closed cockpit microlight aircraft. She had a magical 15 minute flight over Ashbourne Lodge, Carsington and Dovedale.

“We can’t thank Stephen and the staff enough for saving the day. I tried to pay them but they said it was their gift to my mother.”

Judy Leden, senior hand gliding and paragliding instructor at Airways Airsports, said: “We were delighted to help Eunice celebrate her birthday by taking her up in one of our microlight aircrafts. We were happy to offer it free of charge as she had been looking forward to it so much and it would have been terrible if she had left disappointed. It was a pleasure to fly her over the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. The smile on her face said it all.”

Eunice’s experience has inspired Ashbourne Lodge to introduce an initiative to make unfulfilled dreams come true for residents.

More information on Ashbourne Lodge and its others homes can be found at www.milfordcare.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Poppy-PR .