TWO replacement knees and hips could not stop one 92-year-old woman taking on a daring airborne fundraiser.

Vera Elward, who has lived in Bampton all her life, wanted to raise cash to help save the organ at her local church.

But rather than the traditional cake sale or raffle, Mrs Elward, nee Tanner, strapped herself in for a 30-minute flight in a microlight.

Mrs Elward wanted to raise as much as she could towards the £400,000 needed to fix the pipe organ at St Mary’s Church, in Bampton, a church made famous by ITV drama Downton Abbey.

And so far Mrs Elward has raised about £2,500 in sponsorship.

She said: “When I looked at the plane, I thought ‘there’s no way I’m getting in that’, but my granddaughter went one side and the pilot went the other and they helped me in the back seat.

“They gave me ear muffs and gloves and a microphone on the helmet, but I had to wear my normal sandals because my feet swell up, so when we got up in the air my feet were really cold.”

Mrs Elward had wanted to do a parachute jump or a wing walk but was told by doctors that it was too dangerous because of her joint replacements and because she has a pacemaker and asthma.

And when she saw pictures of a closed cockpit plane, she insisted it was not dangerous enough and wanted to go in an open cockpit aircraft.

Mrs Elward, who has two daughters, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, said she had some trouble getting in the back seat of the tiny plane, but once she was in, she was not nervous at all.

The retired Bampton Primary School teacher said: “We took off on the grass and got permission from the tower to do a low flypast over the hangar where all the people were waiting outside. It’s just like being on the back of a motorbike.

“We went up to 3,000 feet. It was cold up there. It was a lovely day for it and I could see Billing Aquadrome and Althrop House near Daventry.

“The sun was shining and I was looking down on all that. It was really beautiful.”

Mrs Elward’s daughter, Janet Newman, who lives next door to her mother, said: “It was absolutely wonderful. It’s given her a new lease of life. The staff at the aerodrome were absolutely brilliant with her.”

The church has been known to viewers across the world as the setting for Downton’s weddings and funerals since the hit period drama was first screened in 2010.

To donate, see justgiving.com/Vera-Elward