EIGHT work colleagues are preparing to take the plunge in a bid to raise money for a fellow employee suffering from cancer.

The daredevil group, who all work at Fine Foods in Sutton, plan to undertake a sponsored parachute jump in Northumbria next month in aid of Barry Trendall, who is currently undergoing treatment in Clatterbridge Hospital.

Barry, a dietician supervisor, is a long-serving and popular member of staff and colleague Michelle Morrissey told the Star: "Barry has been with Fine Foods for the last 25 years and it has always been a pleasure to work with him, so some of us felt that we should try and do something for him now."

The intrepid eight preparing to make the leap are Michelle; Janet Shuttleworth; Helen Turner; Michael Laydon; Jane Armstong; Sharon Hull; Alan Charnock and Simon Callan.

According to Michelle, it is the first time any of them have tackled anything like this and she added: "I don't know about the others, but I am really nervous about doing the jump. However, it is for a good cause and we want to raise as much money as we can for Barry."

If you would like to sponsor the team you can contact any of them on St Helens 24869.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.