A PARACHUTE jump raised around £2,500 for charity.

Denise Gee, 39, of Richmond Park, and Lindsay Reed, 28, of Astley Street, both Darwen, raised £700 and £500 respectively for the Five Stars Appeal.

Mark Allan, 39, of Lower Darwen and Julie Rawlinson, 35, of Laneshaw Close also made the jump and raised £1,300 towards a new £1million high-tech MRI scanner at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

The four jumped from an aircraft at Flookburgh, Cumbria, at 14,000ft.

Darwen Shop and Business Association began raising funds for the Five Stars Appeal after hearing about Mark's two-year-old daughter, Madison, who was diagnosed with a large tumour on her back when she was 10 months old.

She is being treated by the hospital and would benefit from the new scanner.

Denise said: "I was terrified, but I was in the plane thinking about kids waiting for a scan and it's nothing compared to what they are going through.

"My stomach was churning but the thrill of doing it was incredible and raising all that money makes it worthwhile."

Denise, Mark and Julie have promised to do another jump in the summer.