By Reggie D. Edmonds

Tideswell parishioner Sonia Rigg has been raising money for her local church through hang gliding.

And the feat is even more impressive given that Sonia is in her 85th year!

Sonia decided to support her local church, which is in dire need of re-wiring at a cost of around £200,000.

With the issues of ancient wiring and lighting, Sonia is hoping her church will really benefit from her endeavours.

She had been hoping to do the flight since April, but the weather wasn’t favourable. Now she is delighted to finally have had a huge success with this event.

Why hang gliding? Well, besides this just being an incredible idea, the inspiration came from her son, who has been hang gliding for 40 years.

Sonia said: “It was a really lovely experience. I could see all around and the views were super.

“Lying prone, you’re looking down and I had plenty of time to look.

“I wasn’t at all frightened.”

>> See the video of Sonia's hang gliding session [YouTube]

She achieved her goal with huge help from former world champion Judy Leden MBE and Ashbourne Hang Gliding Club.

Sonia is known for being active, and used to cycle and sail with her late husband.

She has no plans to stop taking part in charity events like this, hopefully having inspired many others to follow in her footsteps in doing awesome things to help out.

So far, Sonia has raised nearly £3,000 and donations are still coming in.