After being left devastated by his daughter’s death, a devoted dad pledged to do his bit to prevent others experiencing the “excruciating pain” of losing a loved one to suicide.

Despite never learning to master the sport, Andy Airey set himself the task of skipping to raise money for mental health charity Papyrus, which helped him endlessly when his daughter, Sophie took her own life in December 2018, at 29 years old.

Mr Airey, who lives in the Eden Valley, has ran the Northumberland half marathon twice in memory of his daughter, raising over £40,000 in total, but was looking to do something different while in lockdown.

“I was looking out and thought,’ that spot would be a great place to skip’ behind the house, so bought some skipping ropes – then realised I never learnt to skip,” the 59-year-old said.

“It's partly to raise money through the JustGiving page, but it's also just to put smiles on faces – people find it hilarious to watch me be rubbish at skipping!"

With National Skipping Day taking place tomorrow, Mr Airey thought it was the perfect way to give people a laugh while raising funds for the vital service offered by Papyrus.

He said: "Papyrus have a hope-line you can ring for support, whether you're suffering with your mental health, have lost someone or just need a talk with someone, and it costs about £5 per call for them.

"It's too late for Sophie, but I thought if I can raise a few thousand, that'll fund so many calls that will save people's lives, which is the most important thing."

Mr Airey and his wife Fiona were heartbroken when Sophie went missing 16 months ago, and when her body was found three days later, the pain didn't end.

"We were in so much pain – it was excruciating," he said. "But with Papyrus we've been able to do some good, and even though it's been painful, it's been incredibly uplifting at times as well.

"It's just about saving lives, and the skipping is to giving people a real laugh during this weird time we're all going through."

And while he has seen an improvement since his first skipping attempt, Mr Airey has hit a few bumps in the road – in the form of "being too old".

"I'm too old for it!" he said with a laugh. "My knees started to give in after a few days, so I had to take to hula hooping instead – and I can't do that very well either!"

As suicide is the biggest killer of people under 35, Mr Airey feels "it's scary that the biggest danger to young people is themselves", and is desperate to see the statistics improve – and believes Papyrus is the key.

He said: "They're such a nice team, and they're a national charity, so are there to help everyone.

"If we can get something good out of our tremendous loss, that's all we could ask for."

To support Mr Airey on his mission to save lives, visit the 'Andy's #RunforSophie' JustGiving page.

His skipping and hula videos can be found by searching #RunforSophie, #SkipforSophie and #HulaforSophie.