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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The member of parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock is set to make a tandem skydive this Friday (June 20th) to help ABF The Soldiers' Charity.<\/p>\n
Stephen Metcalfe is set to leap from a plane at 13,000 feet to support the organisation.<\/p>\n
The charity cares for soldiers and the families of soldiers who face hard times and helps a lot of specialist charities linked to the army.<\/p>\n
Mr Metcalfe has quipped about how different the jump will be from parliamentary debates.<\/p>\n
"Soldiers show great courage when serving their country, and I want to do my bit in return," he has said.<\/p>\n
"This certainly will be different from the challenging debates in Parliament."<\/p>\n
On a more serious note, he urged: "As current operations come to a close, we still need to keep the Army in our thoughts. Some of the issues they may face can surface long after operational tours are over."<\/p>\n
The jump will be happening on June 20th at Wiltshire's Netheravon Airfield.<\/p>\n
The MP is set to make his jump alongside The Princess of Wales Regiment freefall display team The Tigers.<\/p>\n
Another jumper on the day will be Ray Pearson – a Chelsea Pensioner aged 77. <\/p>\n
Mr Pearson will jump wearing his scarlet uniform, and is also taking part to help ABF the Soldiers' Charity.<\/p>\n
"There are not many people who would sign on the dotted line for a skydive – it takes a brave person," commented ABF The Soldiers' Charity chief of staff, Brigadier (Ret'd) Robin Bacon.<\/p>\n
Speaking about Mr Metcalfe, he said he was the first MP to make a jump for the charity.<\/p>\n
It is grateful for the opportunity this presents for promotion in Parliament and further afield, he added.<\/p>\n
"We have a number of jumps throughout the summer so we want to encourage others to take this big plunge," he said. The charity's website has further details about doing this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The member of parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock is set to make a tandem skydive this Friday (June 20th) to help ABF The Soldiers’ Charity. Stephen Metcalfe is set to leap from a plane at 13,000 feet to support the organisation. The charity cares for soldiers and the families of soldiers who face […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"The member of parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock is set to make a tandem skydive this Friday (June 20th) to help ABF The Soldiers' Charity.Stephen Metcalfe is set ... "},"author":1,"featured_media":3857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-support-soldiers"],"yoast_head":"\n