Almost £1,800 has been raised to help a little boy to walk after seven friends took part in a tandem skydive.

A total of £1,445 has been pledged online and cash donations totalling about £300 are being collected towards the Wesleys Wish fund.

The appeal was set up to help Wesley Knight, of Guiseley, who was born prematurely at 31 weeks. The youngster, who is now nearly two, suffered damage to part of his brain shortly after birth and is unable to sit, crawl, stand or walk.

His parents, Tim and Catherine, are trying to raise money to take Wes for treatment in America for a pioneering neurosurgical procedure – selective dorsal rhizotomy – which they hope will enable him to walk.

Their funds have now been given a boost by the seven skydivers, aged between 29 and 32, who live in Leeds, London and Brighton.

One of them, Himash Joshi, said: “It was a little bit touch and go at times due to the wind conditions however we all managed to get our jumps completed successfully.”

Tim said the fundraising was about 30 per cent of the way to target – with £50,000 needed to cover the operation and then a further £45,000 to support two or three years of intensive physiotherapy.