For Simon Harbisher it was blind leap of faith - or rather, a leap of faith for the blind.

Simon, 27, a software implementer with Mitrefinch in Clifton Moor, made the 12,000ft leap for his firm's charity, the Guide Dogs Association.

He said: "It was my first jump and the biggest adrenalin rush I've ever had even though I felt safe strapped to the stomach of my instructor Shane Pennington who had the unnerving nickname of Baldrick."

Mitrefinch paid for the jump with Target Skysports at Hibaldstow Airfield in Brigg - and also for a leaping videocameraman to record Simon's plummet all the way down.

That way the £350 raised by Mitrefinch staff and by Simon's friends and family would go entirely towards the costs towards training puppies to help the blind at a training centre in Bolton, Lancashire.

The Dornier turbo-prop aircraft from which he leaped was the same one used by actress Renee Zellweger in her latest role as Bridget Jones in The Edge Of Reason, although a stunt girl made the actual parachute dive.

Simon, whose partner Julie Tompkinson, watched him make a perfect skid landing in a field on his bottom, said: "She was nervous for me, but she didn't show it."

Would he do it again? "If my firm tells me to jump, then I'll jump," he laughs.

Updated: 11:42 Wednesday, January 26, 2005