MORE than £1,500 has been raised for charity after West Devon's very own 'Superman' jumped from a plane 15,000ft high in the air last month.

Dr Mark Eggleton from Northlew, who is a GP at Tavyside in Tavistock, undertook the challenge in order to raise funds for the Rainbow Child Foundation.

After the jump, Dr Eggleton said: 'As someone who, despite being aged 45, had never flown before, it was a really outrageous, almost indescribable experience.

'We jumped out at 15,000 feet which was above the clouds, did a one-minute freefall — which felt more like flying than falling once we'd picked up speed to 120mph terminal velocity — and then parachuted the last 5,000 feet, which took about five minutes.'

He added that he plans on completing another couple of tandem jumps with the target of undertaking some training, so that ultimately, he could be able to jump solo.

Dr Eggleton expressed thanks to everyone who donated or otherwise supported the whole endeavour.

'Especially to all the patients who sponsored me and my colleagues at work who had to put up with me wearing my Superman outfit on more occasions than strictly necessary,' he added.

The Rainbow Child Foundation is a non-profit organisation that gives 100% of its profits to helping underprivileged children around the world.

So far the foundation has reached 25,000 children in eight years by providing schools with play pumps, sanitation, farm seeds bank, and HIV awareness programmes.

• Donations are still welcomed through the Tavyside surgery.