Three staff members from a Lancashire based cardiovascular rehabilitation charity will take part in a skydive to help raise money to provide care for patients.

Heartbeat North-West Cardiac Care in the North-West provides prevention and exercise rehabilitation for people who have had suffered heart attacks, cardiac arrests, strokes or may be at high risk of one of these events.

The charity is based in one of the wings of Preston North End's Deepdale stadium, but also has external sites including Chorley, Leyland, Burscough, Penwortham, Kirkham and Blackpool. 

Lauren Hull and two of her colleagues, who manage one of the centres, will be taking part in a skydive in aid of Heartbeat on Saturday, May 11.

Patients come to the charity twice a week to exercise in a supervised environment with qualified exercise professionals.

The charity currently has over 850 members who use their services every single week to help them recover or prevent them from having a cardiovascular event.

Heartbeat North-West Cardiac Care are a completely self-funded charity who receive no government funding, no NHS funding and are not part of the British Heart Foundation.

Sally Seed, Exercise Instructor & Fundraiser, said: "We have been running for 46 years providing exercises, educational talks and creating a social environment for members, a lot of whom live on their own preventing them from being lonely.

"Due to the current financial climate, the cost of our utility bills increasing by over £60,000, having no external funding and relying on the generosity of our members making a voluntary donation every month, we are hugely struggling to keep afloat, as we need to make £1 million a year to run. 

"A lot of people do not even know we exist, so this opportunity could help raise awareness of the charity in hope the public could support us. This really could help to keep hearts beating in the North-West."

The Chamber of East Lancashire will also be coming to a networking event held on Wednesday, January 31, at their main HQ in Preston football stadium, just before Heart Awareness Month begins in February.

Donations can be made towards the skydive by searching 'Lauren, Rachael and Flynns Skydive' on JustGiving.