Bedfordshire Freemason Terry Thurley undertook a sponsored Wing Walk to raise £10,000 for the Bedfordshire Provincial Grand Lodge Appeal to build a new Accommodation Lodge for Bedfordshire Scouts

When Bedfordshire’s Provincial Grand Master Anthony Henderson heard what Terry was planning to do he pronounced: ‘He must be bonkers.’

Terry, Master of Bedfordshire Lodge of Provincial Grand Stewards No. 9577, proceeded to take on the feat of standing on the wings of a 75 year old Boeing Stearman bi plane, as it flew over the Cotswold countryside at 130mph.

Terry said: ‘To be Master of any lodge is a great honour, but to be Installed as Master of a Provincial Grand Stewards Lodge is very special privilege, so I wanted to do something to say thank you to the lodge for electing me as their Master. 

‘In Bedfordshire we are building a new 48 bed state of the art Accommodation and Amenities Lodge for Bedfordshire Scouts. To help raise the £500,000 needed, I enlisted the assistance of members of the Bedfordshire Lodge of Provincial Grand Stewards, to ask their Mother Lodges/Lodges they were associated with, whether they would consider sponsoring my wing walk.

‘We only asked them to consider sponsoring me for £1 plus Gift Aid, which would have raised around £2,000. We were surprised, but absolutely delighted, that many members and lodges and chapters dug deep into their pockets and raised over five times what we expected.

‘I was initially very apprehensive taking on the challenge, but once I was air born and travelling at 130mph over the beautiful Cotswold countryside, I started to relaxed and then I became exhilarated by the experience.’

When asked if he would do it again, Terry replied, ‘I may be bonkers, but I’m not totally mad!’