A LEDBURY woman who fell 4,000ft to the ground when her parachute tangled is to jump from an aircraft again to overcome her fears and raise money for charity.

Science teacher Lyndi Harding, of Church Street, will make her jump on May 31, seven years on from the terrifying accident that left her with three broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken nose and a chipped tooth.

The accident occurred when her main parachute did not open, then released itself after the reserve parachute had opened successfully. Doctors were baffled by her survival.

She said of her sponsored challenge: “If all goes well, it will help me to overcome emotional residues.

“Since the accident I have been timid and reserved and rather serious, and I don’t want to be any of those things. I refuse to let fear rule my life.” Miss Harding, a former pupil of Newent Community School, does not recall anything of the accident, which took place in California when she was aged just 20.

But she does remember the thrill of skydiving and has even made a pendant of a metal parachute pull-ring to keep the dream alive.

She said: “Freefall is so awesome.

There’s no wind and no sense of falling and you have this idea of space.” Miss Harding is making a tandem jump in Cirencester and because she will be attached to an expert, the free-fall will last much longer that the five seconds she has experienced during her eight previous jumps.

She is raising money for Winston’s Wish, a bereavement charity that helped her following the deaths of her mother Veronica, aged 41, and her brother Michael, aged seven.

On her miracle escape, she said: “It wasn’t my time and as for reasons, it’s not my place to ask. I have a lot of love to give and I have not given it all yet.

Some of that love will go to Winston’s Wish.” Miss Harding has had a great deal of support from her family and her fiance Paul, who she will marry in Gozo later this year. The first people to sponsor her were her grandparents Tom and Diane Harding, of Malvern.

She hopes to raise at least £1,000 from the jump and anyone wishing to help out should log on to www.justgiving.com /lyndiharding or call Gloucestershire College, where she works, on 01242 532162.