The 2022 Festival for the Masonic Charitable Foundation aims to raise £1.8 million by Leicestershire and Rutland Freemasons over the next 5 years. The Masonic Charitable Foundation is one of the largest grant-making charities in the country and last year gave away nearly £5 million to the wider community.

Having arrived at Alumnecar, the group were met by their paraglider pilots, Antonio and Jose, who arrived by air demonstrating how best to land. The intrepid paragliders were taken up into the hills along a single track road via numerous hairpin bends to the takeoff site. The launch site was on the south side of a sharp ridge offering wonderful views out to sea. Having arranged the wing, the pilots set about strapping themselves and their guests into their harnesses after which a full safety briefings were delivered. They were then given takeoff instructions to simply to run down the slope until the ground fell away. The flights down were very smooth and offered amazing views out to sea and along the coast. Digby’s flight showed the advantage of being so much taller than Antonio when taking off from such a steep slope, a couple of steps and then off into the blue yonder. 

Tony said: “We were all lucky enough to have relatively good landings, though I did collect a lot of the beach in my shoes and some in my knees.”

Digby said: “Having all safely returned to terraferma, we exchanged feelings about our flights, the heightened heart rate before and during takeoff, the gradual relaxing as the flight continued and then the increasing tension as the ground rapidly approached. We all agreed the venture had been well worthwhile and hope the donations will fully reflect our efforts.”

The Provincial Grand Master, David Hagger, said: “Congratulations to Digby and Tony for their fundraising efforts and am pleased to learn they landed safely without harm.”