Leap of faith for Steve
07 September 2016
A small village and a community centre that has seen better days will be the beneficiaries of a Costain staff member stepping out into 10,000 feet of thin air next month.
Steve Ellis, Community Relations Officer on the A160/A180 Immingham road project, will be making a tandem skydive on September 11 (weather permitting) to raise money to help restore South Killingholme community centre in Lincolnshire.
Although the project’s title mentions Immingham, the bulk of the work – dualling a stretch of the A160 – is centred on South Killingholme.
The road splits the 1100-strong community, which has had a lack of employment opportunities for some time and lacks social facilities.
“There’s a community centre that’s vastly under-used and because of that it’s been subject to a bit of vandalism,” said Steve. “The community is trying together to utilise the centre for more events, particularly more events for children.”
Steve’s family clubbed together to buy him a tandem skydive for his 57th birthday – “I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie and a skydive has been on my ‘bucket list’ for a long time” – and he thought he would make use of the occasion by having it sponsored.
The A160 team had already given £150 to help fund a planned fête at the community centre; Steve is now hoping to boost that by a further £500 by his sponsored parachute jump.
The additional money will go towards improving security at the community centre: “There are a few broken windows,” explained Steve. “If we can get those fixed, then start to arrange a few more events there, we hope that the community will become self-policing to keep the place in good condition.”
The Costain team hopes that by restoring the community centre to active use, it will start to attract more local people – particularly children – to events there. “We’re hoping to bring back self-belief to the community so kids will take greater pride in it,” explained Steve.
Anyone wishing to contribute towards Steve’s target can do so at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stephen-ellis
ENDS
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