THE final flight of Concorde to Manchester Airport on Wednesday will have a special poignancy for retired Bolton builder Derek Gaskell.

He was the first person to charter the supersonic aircraft to raise money for charity.

The trip raised £28,000 for his Brain and Spinal Injury charity BASIC and kickstarted his campaign to raise millions for a special hospital unit.

"They told me I was mad to do it," said Derek, "but it made the national headlines when a Bolton builder chartered Concorde."

The year was 1986. Concorde was still a novelty for the flying public, and Derek was finding ways to pay for a unit at Salford's Hope Hospital where his wife Dorothy had undergone life-saving brain surgery.

As an anniversary treat, Derek, of Regent Road, Lostock, had taken Dorothy on a surprise trip on Concorde to Moscow to see the Russian Ballet.

"She had said she'd like to see the ballet so I thought this would be a marvellous trip," he said. "It was certainly that.

"When we were in Moscow and were leaving the landing area, we looked back and saw the plane with that magnificent nose, surrounded by Russian troops. It was a fabulous sight."

Two people helped Derek realise his charity flight dream. Doug Jackson, who was handling public relations for British Airways, and TV star Jimmy Savile, who was in Bolton to run in the Bolton Marathon. Both offered practical advice to Derek, including how to contact BA chairman Lord King. And he was off.

"We had six months to sell the tickets. But Concorde had to be full flying to Manchester from London, so (Bolton travel boss) Andrew Dickson arranged a trip down to London by coach with a hotel stay and a show, and those people came back on Concorde," said Derek.

"We didn't make money on that, but it served the purpose. We sold all those tickets, and the 100 tickets for the 90-minute flight out from Manchester in just two weeks -- people came from all over the place. But we made more money from merchandising, such as videos, and from charging people £5 to go round the plane.

"It was a fantastic trip -- everyone thought it was amazing."

The stunt also heralded a handful of high profile events that Derek organised for the charity, including trips on the Orient Express and the QE2.

"But people kept asking about going on Concorde again. So two years later I arranged another trip, this time on the French Concorde because it was cheaper. We had a great trip then as well -- all along the Irish coastline."

In fact, Derek's love affair with Concorde prompted him to commission an impressive picture of the plane which hangs proudly in his home.

His fund-raising ultimately led to the opening of the Neurocare Centre at Hope Hospital, and his work for BASIC continues today to fund development there.

"I will be very sorry to see Concorde finish flying," said Derek. "It has a special place in my life."

But this association may well continue. Manchester Airport is trying to get one of the planes based there, probably for corporate entertainment. And that might offer enterprising Derek further fund-raising ideas.

CONCORDE FACTFILE

Concorde was born out of separate French and British projects which joined forces in 1962.

The first prototype plane (001) was rolled out of its hangar at Toulouse in France in 1967.

The first flight took place on March 2, 1969, from Toulouse. The first flight of Concorde 002 was from Filton, near Bristol, on April 9, 1969.

Concorde cruises at around 1,350 mph at an altitude of up to 60,000 feet (11 miles).

A crossing from Europe to New York takes less than three and a half hours -- which is less than half the normal flying time for other jets.

Travelling westwards, the five-hour timed difference means Concorde lands before local arrival time catches up with local departure time.