HIGH-FLIERS at a Hampshire company have raised thousands of pounds for charity after taking part in a white-knuckle skydive.

Six adventurous staff from Canotec succeeded in freefalling for a terrifying 45 seconds from 12,000ft to 5,000ft before enjoying' a more gentle five-minute descent back to earth under canopy.

None of the team taking part in the tandem jump at Netheravon, near Salisbury, had ever parachuted before.

"It was a nerve-shredding, but exhilarating experience, especially standing on the tailgate of the plane and just somersaulting out of the back," said David Newman, Canotec's marketing director.

So far about £2,000 has been pledged to the team from the skydive, which will be donated to Round Table Children's Wish.

Ringwood-based Canotec, which is the financial backer for this year's Red Arrows display on Bournemouth seafront on August 18, is hoping to raise a total of £25,000 for the charity this year.

Apart from Mr Newman, other Canotec staff taking part in the skydive were Katie Rogers, telesales, who organised the jump, Caroline Joyce, receptionist/works control, Austin Kinsley, account manager, Ken Thuesen, account manager, and Steve Goodman, IT support technician.

Jamie Taylor, managing director of Taylor Made Designs, and a friend of Canotec, was the seventh member of the jump team.

Canotec is an award-winning imaging solutions provider for Canon and HP, helping businesses to create, capture, manage and distribute documents and information more efficiently.

The firm was founded in 1992 and now employs 35 staff with an annual turnover of £3.5m.