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80-year-old hopes for wing-walking record CAT BARTMAN August 22, 2003 19:56 She's 80 years old, she's got 14 grandchildren – but Paddy Hayes finally achieved high-flying stardom today. Mrs Hayes, from Bressingham, near Diss became one of the oldest people in Britain to complete a wing-walk when she was strapped on to a Stearman plane for the daredevil challenge at the Clacton Airshow. Now, they're checking the records to see if she's the oldest woman ever to complete the stunt. Mrs Hayes took to the skies with the Utterly Butterly wing-walking team after bad weather forced her to postpone her attempt at the beginning of the month. She described it as an “absolutely incredible” experience. “I did about eight to 10 minutes and we did about three fly pasts over the beach and the crowd. It was fantastic!” With pilot Mike Dentith at the controls, Mrs Hayes travelled at speeds of up to 100mph and a height of 800ft. She was taken down to 60ft to wave to the thousands of people gathered below on the beach and on boats on the water. “The worst bit was taxiing across the grass, but once you start belting down the grass and taking off it's wonderful,” she added. Mrs Hayes, who still works as a carer, hopes to have raised at least £500 for the Parkinson's Disease Society and the Cinnamon Trust, which cares for pets when their owners are no longer able to. She is not new to extreme sports and has already completed four abseils and after her first taste of wing-walking said she intends to keep it up. “If it gets in the Guinness Book of Records then I shall have to break it next year.” Once the paperwork has been sent off it will be about five weeks before the Guinness Book of Records, which has recognised the fact that Mrs Hayes would be attempting a record, confirm whether it has been set. The overall world record holder is Leslie “Dizzy” Seales, from Leicester, who was aged 85 when he broke his own record in 1999 at Goodwood. SOURCE: Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, UK http://tinyurl.com/kvom * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn