A SOUTHAMPTON man is set to do a skydive to raise money for a nearby hospice that supported his dad towards the end of his life.

Matthew Williams, from Bitterne will skydive from 10,000ft on May 15 to raise money for Countess Mountbatten Hospice Charity Ltd.

The West End based hospice supported Matthew’s father who died at the age of 74 on February 2 after an 11 year long battle with Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.

In the final weeks of his life, David Williams, Matthew’s father, was determined he didn’t want to go into hospital or a hospice and wanted to stay at home.

The staff from the West End hospice then began coming round to his home in Hamble twice a day to check on him, wash him, and make sure he was comfortable.

Matthew said: “They were so nice, the girls that came round to help out, I just thought I’d raise them some money in my dads honour.

“The care and support they provided was done with the utmost respect and professionalism and his family will always be grateful for all they did for him.”

“Because Covid has had an impact on a lot of charities over the last 12 months, I realise they are in need of extra funds and I just thought if I do this then I can help out.”

Matthew set up a Gofundme page for his skydive and set an original fundraising target of £500.

Having passed that target within 48 hours of the page going up though, he is now just hoping to raise as much money as possible.

At the time of the Echo going to print, the Gofundme page had raised £595.

Matthew will be doing the skydive in Salisbury, and apart from a ride in a stunt plane which he did for his thirtieth, he has never done anything like this before.

He added: “I’m looking forward to it but I’m glad I’m going to be strapped to somebody else.

“I’ve always thought of doing a skydive but if I can raise some money at the same time then that’s equally good.

“Everyone in my family has been very supportive and whilst they think it’s a little bit crazy and something they don’t want to do, they weren’t surprised I wanted to do something like this.”

Donate to Matthew's Gofundme page here.