Janet Taylor, 83, has dedicated her life to animals –she’s even jumped out of a plane for them!
Looking at the piece in the newspaper, I smiled with pride. As a journalist, I’d been working on an exposé about the animal trade and I’d even got celebrity comment from Joanna Lumley –a fellow animal lover.
During the investigation, I’d managed to take in almost 70 sheep, housing them on a smallholding.
“I think we’re going to need somewhere bigger,” I said to staff, as locals started to drop off injured or ill animals for me to care for.
Years later, having rented a bigger farm for our 600 animals, I officially opened The Farm Animal Sanctuary with Joanna Lumley as our patron. She was always at the end of the phone with advice and support and visited the farm often for cuddles with the lambs.
I spent 16-hour days out in the fields, feeding the animals, checking they were healthy, calling the vet if they weren’t. I loved the farm and, opening it to the public, I saw they loved it too. Afew years later, funds for the farm started to run low. “I have to think of a way to raise money,” I told friends.
Then someone suggested I do a sponsored skydive. It would be the cash injection we needed. The problem was I was terrified of heights and flying gave me motion sickness.
But if I wanted my flock to be safe, I knew I had to do it.
I started collecting sponsors, including a donation from Joanna –who offered endless support in the lead-up to the skydive.
At 75, I was the oldest jumper. I had to completely switch off my brain so t
