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Manette Baillie, Oldie Flying Angel of the Year By Harry Mount This summer, Manette Baillie parachuted her way into the nation’s hearts as Britain’s oldest skydiver. At 102, Manette made her first ever jump, plunging from 13,000 feet up in the air over Beccles Airfield, Suffolk. Having served as a Wren in World War II, plucky feats of derring do were nothing new to Manette, of Benhall, Suffolk. “It was a bit scary. I must admit I just shut my eyes firmly – very firmly,” she said of the jump, which raised £30,000 for the Benhall Village Social Club, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and East Anglia Air Ambulance. Just days before her jump, Manette got a personal message from the Prince of Wales on her 102nd birthday, wishing her a happy birthday and saying he and the Princess of Wales would be thinking of her during her mighty leap into the unknown. The Prince of Wales said of the charities she was helping, ‘They are tremendous organisations who help so many people. From my time with East Anglian Air Ambulance, I know how many lives are saved due to the generosity of people like you.’ Manette, who was married to a paratrooper, is no stranger to adventure. On her 100th birthday, she zoomed round Silverstone in a Ferrari at 130mph. ‘The Air Ambulance,’ Manette explained, ‘is close to my heart because a helicopter saved my son’s life on the Isle of Wight after a diving accident in 1969. Even now, every Saturday, I hold a coffee morning at my cottage with everyone chipping in to donate money.” She chose the Motor Neurone Disease Association because her great niece suffers from the condition. Manette said of the Benhall & Sternfield Village Social Club, ‘I want to help do it up for the next generation. It started as a rickety tin hut for those coming home from the First World War. No doubt there’ll be more wars and young people will need a place to gather.’ Manette had planned a small party to celebrate her 102nd birthday but she then heard of a friend’s father who skydived at 85. She says, ‘If an 85-year-old man can do it, so can I.’ Manette, who holds gatherings at her cottage and challenges visitors to games, added, ‘Keep busy, be interested in everything, be kind to those around you and let them be kind to you. Oh, and don’t forget to party!’ By the way, her gin mornings are legendary throughout Suffolk. This summer, Manette Baillie parachuted her way into the nation’s hearts as Britain’s oldest skydiver. At 102, Manette made her first ever jump, plunging from 7,000 feet up in the air over Beccles Airfield, Suffolk. Having served as a Wren in World War II, plucky feats of derring do were nothing new to Manette of Benhall, Suffolk. “It was a bit scary. I must admit I just shut my eyes firmly – very firmly,” she said of the jump, which raised £30,000 for the Benhall Village Social Club, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and East Anglia Air Ambulance. Just days before her jump, Manette got a personal message from the Prince of Wales on her 102nd birthday, wishing her a happy birthday and saying he and the Princess of Wales would be thinking of her during her mighty leap into the unknown. The Prince of Wales said of the charities she was helping, ‘They are tremendous organisations who help so many people. From my time with East Anglian Air Ambulance, I know how many lives are saved due to the generosity of people like you.’ Manette, who was married to a paratrooper, is no stranger to adventure. On her 100th birthday, she zoomed round Silverstone in a Ferrari at 130mph. ‘The Air Ambulance,’ Manette explained, ‘is close to my heart because a helicopter saved my son’s life on the Isle of Wight after a diving accident in 1969. Even now, every Saturday, I hold a coffee morning at my cottage with everyone chipping in to donate money.” She chose the Motor Neurone Disease Association because her great niece suffers from the condition. Manette said of the Benhall & Sternfield Village Social Club, ‘I want to help do it up for the next generation. It started as a rickety tin hut for those coming home from the First World War. No doubt there’ll be more wars and young people will need a place to gather.’ Manette had planned a small party to celebrate her 102nd birthday but she then heard of a friend’s father who skydived at 85. She says, ‘If an 85-year-old man can do it, so can I.’ Manette, who holds gatherings at her cottage and challenges visitors to games, added, ‘Keep busy, be interested in everything, be kind to those around you and let them be kind to you. Oh, and don’t forget to party!’ By the way, her gin mornings are legendary throughout Suffolk.

"Short speech. Short script. Act 1. Old. Act 2. Old fart. Act 3. Dead. Somewhere lurking between the acts The Oldie magazine, these awards... What an honour, thank you. I’m really overwhelmed. It’s great. Cut." Sponsored by Baillie Gifford Photos by Neil Spence Photography

"I just want to say thank you for the remarkable account of what I’ve done and so on and so forth and how marvellous are all the people here." Sponsored by Baillie Gifford Photo by Neil Spence Photography

"I’ve got a little thing written down... I feel very embarrassed. I’m very honoured to receive this but it's also strange to me to be here, as a poor working class kid from South London. I can only thank my grandma. She taught me everything. She taught me to write a diary, to scrapbook, the art of collecting things, to say the alphabet backwards. Anyone else? Someone’s nodding over there... (at the request of a wayward heckle Wyman does prove he can still say the alphabet backwards much to our delight) I can never thank my grandma for what she did for me. I wouldn’t be me without all she’s done. I get very emotional when I speak about her. I simply wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for her. She sadly died at the age of 61, before I had fame and fortune really, and I never got to thank her for what she did for me. However, one thing I want to share which I will always remember is that she used to say to me to grow up thinking about the poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling." If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! Sponsored by Baillie Gifford Photos by Neil Spence Photography

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