THE MOTHER of a Torpoint soldier, killed by a roadside bomb on Remembrance Sunday, is aiming to raise £10,000 for a services charity.

Rifleman Sam Bassett, who also lived in Hessenford, died in an explosion in Afghanistan, 31 days into his first tour.

His mother Coline is preparing to jump out of a plane at 12,000ft over Devon next month as part of her fund-raising target.

Money raised will go to the Rifleman's Trust charity set up to offer practical help to the wounded and bereaved families.

She is paying £250 out of her own pocket to make the sponsored tandem jump, a major part of the fund-raising programme she, her family and friends are organising to reach their goal.

She said: "I have never done it before. I used to be a gymnast and athlete, but I can't run or cycle now, so I'm doing this jump strapped to an instructor."

Sam, the eldest of her two sons, had to push himself hard to become a soldier said Mrs Bassett, who wants to do something in his memory.

Coline said: "I kicked him up the backside when he came home from training with blisters on his feet and rub marks on his shoulders and he said he couldn't go back.

"But the boys who stuck it out became soldiers – men – they didn't come home to be hoodies." The determination to do something to help other servicemen is shared by her youngest son, Jack, who, along with some of Sam's best friends from Torpoint – Phil Ackland, Martin Rogers, Alex Rothwell and Jonathan Field – are planning a fund-raising cycle ride from John O'Groats to Land's End. Coline added: "When Sam passed out in April last year he was one of 18 lads. Two of them are now dead and five have lost arms and legs – four of them are double amputees and one is a triple amputee. It is just awful."

To donate to The Rifleman's Trust charity, go to www.justgiving.com and type in Samuel Bassett.