| | FLYING HIGH |  |
| | |
| 1 | | A disabled woman, Debbie Grice (31) |
| | from Lockington, has been presented |
| | with her ‘wings’ after she completed a |
| | course in learning to fly. Debbie who |
| | suffers from a chronic illness which |
| | affects her muscles, has now got a |
| | full pilot’s licence and can fly across |
| | the UK. |
| | |
| 2 | | Debbie first became ill when she was |
| | 18 years old. She said that being |
| | disabled had shrunk her world a lot. |
| | She used to be adventurous but |
| | slowly her self-esteem and confidence became less and less. |
| | |
| 3 | | The course changed all that and has given her a reason to enjoy life again. |
| | Debbie said: “When you feel ill and you can’t work, you have limited possibilities |
| | in terms of making friends and meeting people. The flying means I have a whole |
| | new conversation and a whole new set of friends. I achieved something which a |
| | normal healthy person would struggle to achieve.” |
| | |
| 4 | | She was chosen for the pilot training after a selection process and helped by a |
| | charity called FSD: Flying Scholarships for the Disabled. They have already |
| | trained 300 people since it was set up in 1983 in memory of fighter pilot Sir |
| | Douglas Bader, who had lost both his legs in an aircraft crash but re-entered the |
| | armed forces when pilots were needed in World War II. |
| | |
| 5 | | Debbie got her wings at a special presentation at the Royal International Air |
| | Show on July 19. Chairman of the FSD, Alan Smith said: “Disabled people don’t |
| | realise that they can learn to fly. We are able to give out a number of |
| | scholarships. We would like to have more applications from people who want to |
| | learn to fly. So please, get in touch with us.” |
| | |
| | Would-be pilots can get in touch through the charity’s website: |
| | www.toreachforthesky.org |
