A team of friends and family are taking to the sky in memory of a much-missed mother, wife and hairdresser.

Debbie Bowers, owner of the Ami Lees salon in Grays was 49 when she died of cancer in 2011, just weeks before her 50th birthday.

Now, her 23 year-old-daughter Mica Bowers is taking on the challenge of a skydive, along with her special team.

Up to 20 people could eventually board the plane at Beccles Airfield in Suffolk on Saturday, June, 21 and jump out of it hopefully raising about £5,000 for charity Macmillan.

Mica, who works for Take 4 Personnel on Lodge Lane, Grays, said: “I’m absolutely dreading it! “I’ve done a race for life since she passed, but the skydive well that was my brother’s idea.”

Debbie passed away on November 9, 2011, soon after learning she had cancer, which had spread around her body after forming in her oesophagus.

Mica, who now lives above the salon which is still owned by the family but managed by Amy Kilshaw, said: “It’s been really difficult and still is. I just want to raise money and keep her memory going. It’s still very raw.”

To sponsor the team in their bid to raise £5,000 for Macmillan in Debbie’s name, forms can be filled in at Ami Lees salon, at Clarendon’s on Southend Road, Grays, owned by Tony, Mica’s father, or from Take 4 Personnel.