THE sky’s the limit for a daredevil grandma after she carried out a 14,000ft tandem parachute jump for charity.

Retired nurse Dymphna Pepper is backpacking around Australia and took the plunge at Byron Bay, New South Wales, to raise cash for Rossendale Hospice.

The plucky 79-year-old was named Rossendale Woman of the Year 2005 for her sterling work for the charity where she has been a volunteer almost since its inception.

Fund-raising manager Sam Morris said: “She is a very inspirational person and she puts everybody else to shame.

“She is one of our trustees and has done parachute jumps for us before and she is a very active lady; always doing something.

“We are trying to get more people to skydive for the hospice and maybe Dymphna’s efforts will inspire them.”

Dymphna, from Fairhill, Helmshore, has a son, Donald, and three grandchildren: Jack, four, Saskia, one, and Troy, who was born last week.

She served as a nurse and a midwife in Northern Rhodesia, Africa, during the 50s before becoming a health visitor in Haslingden.

She visits Australia three times a year where she stays in hostels and wakes up at 6am to swim in the ocean.

Close friend Alistair Mitchell, managing director of Musbury Fabrics in Helmshore, said: “Dymphna was the midwife who delivered me more than 40 years ago, so I’ve known her all my life.

“She always goes the extra mile to raise money for charity, so it does not surprise me that she is supporting the hospice again as it is a very worthy cause."

Close friend and former hospice chairman Dorothy Mitchell, from Stonefold, added: “When I knew her in Africa she was a midwife in some very remote areas and so had to do everything herself; she has more guts than I do and I applaud her spirit.”

Anyone interested in fundraising for the hospice can visit www.rossendalehospice.org.