RAF Flight Lieutenant Ross Chapman is taking to the air to raise funds for the Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign after meeting a three-year-old girl with Spina Bifida.

On Monday, September 25, it will be chocks away for Chox when RAF Brize Norton's Deputy Senior Air Movements Officer flies from the air base to Cyprus to raise money for the charity.

Flt Lt Chapman is in charge of the Air Movements Squadron at RAF Brize Norton, so he is no stranger to working with aeroplanes.

However, the one he will be attempting his flight in is a four-seater Piper Warrior, unlike the giant C17 and Tristar transport planes he is used to moving around the Brize airbase.

Flt Lt Chapman said: "I am going to get sponsorship from my colleagues on the base, and added sponsorship from Excel Airways, so I am hoping to raise more than £1,000.

"My aim is for the flight to help publicise the fundraising campaign too."

The RAF employee decided to undertake the daring challenge because of a chance encounter in April of this year.

His wife Sara took part in the OX5 run at Blenheim Palace earlier this year, and it was there they met Dale Harris and his daughter Mya, who cut the ribbon at the start of the race.

Four-year-old Mya was born with Spina Bifida and has already had at least six operations at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Flt Lt Chapman was inspired by her story to raise money for the new children's hospital, which will open in 2007.

He said: "I am lucky to have a healthy three-year-old daughter, but feel reassured that if we ever need it, the hospital will be there for us.

"When I met Mya I was struck by her sunny personality, despite the challenges she and her family have had to face.

"She will need ongoing care and specialist services, which the new children's hospital will provide, for years to come.

"I think it will be a fantastic resource for children like Mya and many others in the future."

The flight from Brize Norton to Cyprus will cover 2,200 miles over France, Italy, Greece and on to Akrotiri, with Cyprus as the final destination.

Flt Lt Chapman will not be making the flight solo - an RAF colleague will help him with the outbound flight. He then plans to take a commercial flight back to the UK.

The journey to Cyprus should take about seven days and approximately two-thirds of the flight will be over water. q=candrew.ffrench@nqo.com chox Oxfordshire Masons THE Masons have presented a cheque for £10,000 for the Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign.

Alan Englefield, the Masons Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire, handed the cheque to Graham Brogden, the campaign's head of community fundraising.

The Masons have pledged to raise £50,000 to fund a parents' sitting room on the new hospital's surgical floor. Abingdon Kindergarten THIRTY children took part in a teddy bears' picnic in Abingdon to raise money for the children's hospital campaign.

Babies and toddlers aged up to five, from Abingdon Kindergarten's Long Furlong site, gathered on the field at Long Furlong Primary School for the fundraising event.

Michelle Stoddard, the nursery's deputy manager, said the sponsored picnic raised a total of £400 for Chox and Guide Dogs for the Blind.

She added: "It was a lovely day. The children brought their teddies and enjoyed eating their picnics out in the open." Caroline Gregory submitted pic of Caroline on her bike to come YARNTON mum Caroline Gregory rode from London to Brighton to raise £200 for the Oxford Children's Hospital Campaign.

Mrs Gregory cycled the 59 miles in June with colleagues from Cumnor-based wood importers Timbnet to raise more than £5,000 for various charities, including Chox, the British Heart Foundation and Helen House hospice.

Four years ago, her son Adam, 14, a pupil at the Marlborough School in Woodstock, was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, which attacks the immune system.

Mrs Gregory, 39, said her son had received various drug treatments and plastic surgery during numerous visits to the Radcliffe Infirmary and John Radcliffe Hospital.

She added: "We would like to say thank you to all the staff who have helped us over the years, particularly paediatric consultant Paul Johnson and his team.

"We have seen the children's hospital building go up and we are all looking forward to it opening next year."

Mrs Gregory, who also has a daughter Rebecca, 12, cycled the 59 miles with colleagues Gill Paget and Gill Farrington.

They completed the trip in six hours.

She said: "It was a warm day and it was hard going some of the way. I couldn't ride up the last hill - it was a bit too much." pic to come