SKYDIVING is never for the faint-hearted, but imagine plummeting from 12,000ft – stark naked.

That is precisely what daring Howard Smith will do above Redlands Airfield on July 11 to raise money for ambulances to save lives in Uganda.

The 50-year-old electrical engineer volunteers with charity PONT, which is based in Pontypridd, South Wales, where he lives. It is a partnership and twinning arrangement between the Welsh county of Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Mbale region of Uganda.

Their latest project is the creation of an emergency ambulance service in Mbale (CORR), using eRanger (CORR) motorbike ambulances which have a specially-designed patient bed as a sidecar and can access the narrow routes which are the only way to get to many of the villages.

The dad of two raised more than £2,000 for charity doing his first ever tandem skydive over Swansea in August 2014.

This year he wanted to go a step further and after declining the challenge to go ‘parachute free’ he opted instead for a clothes-free descent – and Swindon was the nearest airfield to allow him to do it.

So far Howard has raised more than £4,000 to dare to bare.

“It started as a joke but it is for such a good cause,” he said. “When I realised that doing this sponsored skydive with the extra challenge of doing it naked would increase the amount raised significantly, I decided to go for it,” he said.

“At last year’s skydive at Swansea it was compulsory to wear these awful luminous green onesie type overalls. I think I might actually feel less embarrassed being photographed this year than I was in that outfit last year.

“This extra challenge had better result in me beating last year’s figure by a substantial margin.

“Taking on this challenge was not an easy decision. Besides the embarrassment factor, plummeting in free fall from 12,000 feet at 120mph will be decidedly chilly.

“I don’t think I’ll be looking my most impressive, but these ambulances are so important I just had to do something to help – and do it in a big way.”

The very existence of an ambulance service in Mbale is a rarity and to get to hospital in an emergency patients are lucky if they know someone with a car or bicycle.

So far 32 motorbike ambulances have been bought trough donations and grants from various organisations, including a number of Rotary Clubs. But Running the service – including fuel, servicing, and drivers’ wages – needs even more funding, up to £10 a day for each ambulance.

Howard has made 15, self-funded, one week visits to Mbale with the PONT charity during the past decade, and has seen first-hand the need for this ambulance service, and the impact it’s had on people’s lives. “I was not prepared to stand by and see the service not being used to the full,” he said.

He is also personally aware of the importance of an effective ambulance service after his youngest daughter, Megan, was found unconscious in bed at just 20 months old after contracting meningitis.

“I just can’t imagine what it would be like to have no ambulance to call in an emergency,” he said.

To show your support for Howard, sponsor him online through his Virgin Money Giving page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HowardSmith-NakedSkydive or donate £10 by texting NAKD50 10 to 70070.

For more about PONT visit www.pont-mbale.org.uk.