A dad and grandad has taken a giant leap for men-kind by jumping 15,000ft out of a plane to raise money for a mental health charity.
Terence Devanney, a process operator at science company Lubrizol in Leeds Road, Huddersfield, took on the skydive in aid of Yorkshire-based Andy’s Man Club, raising almost £800.
Terence raised half the money through sponsorship and the rest was match-funded by Lubrizol.
Having been given the skydive as a present by his wife, Terence decided to complete the leap for charity and, as a dad-of-three with a six-month-old grandson, he decided Andy’s Man Club was the perfect cause.
He said: “I think from a man’s point of view, we are generally quite under-represented. I work with a lot of guys. We are all lads – it’s a very male environment.
“I’ve got three sons and very recently my middle son just had a baby so there are a lot of guys around me in my life. We tend to put ourselves down the list.
“You go through your life and you’ve had a few bumps along the way. I can see how easily things can spiral when you have pressures in your life: you’ve got a mortgage, you’ve got kids.
“Maybe there might have been one or two times over the years when I could have done with having a chat with somebody.”
Terence, who started working for Lubrizol in 2022, said he had been particularly impressed by the company’s commitment to the local community.
He said: “One of the things that particularly struck me about Lubrizol is that they seemed very community focused, with lots of voluntary opportunities.”
Terence Devanney with his sons Adam (left, with grandson Cooper) and Luke and Tom.
The skydive itself, hosted by Black Knights, was an exhilarating experience for Terence.
He said: “I wasn’t particularly concerned. When I was flying up knowing this was it and there was no turning back, some doubts do start to creep in! But my guide made it fun.
“You’re so high up that it’s very cold up there – it was minus 20 degrees. When I jumped, I didn’t get the sense of falling really. You see the canopy of fields below you. With the rush of adrenaline, you don’t even really feel it.
“I would definitely recommend everybody gives it a go. It’s something special, it really is.”
Lucas Whitehead, of Andy’s Man Club, thanked Terence and said: “Taking that first step into an Andy’s Man Club can be just as nerve wracking as a skydive.
“Through Terence’s fundraising efforts, matched by the generosity of Lubrizol, we can get the word out and help make that first step a lot easier for more men.
“We are a donation-led charity, meaning that any money received by the charity goes straight into the opening of new venues and maintaining our existing roster of groups.
“Without the support of Terence, Lubrizol and thousands of others like them, Andy’s Man Club wouldn’t exist.”
