DON Butler will exchange the world of furniture for adventure on the high seas next week when he sets sail from Florida across the Atlantic to Spain.

It is all in a good cause he is raising money for the Furniture Trades Benevolent Association (FTBA) and other charities to include Save the Blue Shark and the Helen House Hospice.

The 58-year-old, who runs Donald Butler Upholstery in Cornmarket, Thame, and has a factory in Chinnor producing upholstered sofas and chairs, flies out to Florida on May 30 to join a small crew for the five-week journey via the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Azores to La Caruna in Spain before flying home.

It was his brother-in-law, Don Norris, an ex-American Marine colonel, who suggested a year ago that they should make the trip. Now he has decided to take up the offer.

Don said: "I am not a sailor at all. It is my brother-in-law's boat. I did an Outward Bound course at 19 and since then my only experience of sailing has been a Navigation and Day Skipper's course at Bisham Abbey Sailing Club. Hopefully we can raise as much money as we can."

His family is right behind the decision. He added: "My wife Elaine is quite happy for me to go. And so are my daughters."

Elaine, Abbie, 23, and Tasha, 20, will see him off at Gatwick and hopefully will go over to Spain to meet the 32ft boat when it arrives.

The FTBA, which has a High Wycombe branch, raises funds and provides financial help for people who have worked in the furniture industry who have fallen on hard times.

To sponsor Don should send a cheque payable to FTBA to David Healy, President, 109 High Street, Thame, Oxon OX9 3DZ.