AN 82-year-old man from Holt will jump 10,000ft out of a plane next Saturday to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, despite only being able to walk with the aid of crutches.

Jeffrey Jones, of Bradley Lane, who walks with two crutches as the result of a plane collision in 1943, said: "In a magazine I saw this advert for a parachute jump. I have always wanted to do one so I jumped at the chance."

It has taken six months for him to persuade his doctor to sign a medical certificate saying he is safe to take the leap.

He said: "At first he thought I couldn't walk far enough so I took him for a walk around Bradford on Avon and proved him wrong.

"Then he thought my blood pressure was too high."

Mr Jones was involved in a mid-air collision more than 60 years ago, when he worked as a flying instructor for the RAF in North Wales.

He said: "The last time I came down in my plane was in 1943. I met another plane at 800ft, which was too low to parachute. It was a pupil on his second solo flight. I didn't see him. He saw me coming but he didn't know how to get out of the way."

Mr Jones spent a year in hospital following the crash and two further years needing close medical attention. He has since lost most of the use of one of his legs, meaning he needs two crutches to walk. In 1946 he was invalided out of the RAF.

The pilot of the other plane escaped without serious injury.

Mr Jones said: "The parachute jump is no big deal really.

"I used to get vertigo if I went 10ft up a ladder but it is different when you are up there because you are not attached to the ground."

After leaving the RAF, Mr Jones, who is a keen painter, was an art master in Middlesex for a year. He then moved to Nigeria, where he lived for nearly 25 years, working as a magistrate and a high court judge and painting pictures of people he met.

He was encouraged to support the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by two of his neighbours, who are retired naval captains and has already raised about £800.

He will do the tandem parachute jump at RAF Weston on the Green, Bicester, Oxfordshire.

Anyone who wants to sponsor him can send a cheque, payable to RNLI, with their name, address and whether they wish the donation to be Giftaid, to Mr Jones, Bradley Cottage, Holt, Trowbridge, BA14 6QE.