A SUPERSLIMMER is walking on air after a charity skydive raised £3,000.

Derick Sargent, 48, from Coxwold, lost eight stones in the last year and in doing so reached the finals of the Slimming World competition.

But one of his long-held ambitions had always been to have a go at sky-diving and as he shrank from 22-stones his mother Ethel, from Thirsk, was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

“I decided this was it – I’d do the jump and raise money for a good cause at the same time. It was an extra incentive,” said Derick, a goods intake supervisor for Holmesterne Foods in Catterick.

His mother and father John, along with a host of friends and relatives were there to watch when he leapt out of a plane from 13,500ft at Shotton Airfield in Peterlee and plunged earthwards at 140mph.

“It was unbelievable. I just sat on the edge of the plane and rolled out – I wasn’t frightened at all. I was as high as a kite on adrenaline for three days afterwards,” he said.

“Mum is going fine now. She was rushed into Northallerton hospital and had an operation three days later. She had chemo and has just got the all-clear. It has been one hell of a year.”

He chose the charities Bowel and Cancer Research and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and handed over the cash at the Forresters Arms in Kilburn.

Bowel and Cancer Research’s chief executive Deborah Gilbert, said: “We’re really pleased that Mrs Sargent came through her treatment. The support of people like Derick is invaluable if we are to help make sure that more people survive the disease in future.”

Anyone who wants to add to Derick’s fundraising total can text him on 07857-668285.