A GROUP of friends raised almost £5,500 for St Helena Hospice by taking on the famous Three Peaks Challenge.

Paul Copperwheat, Justin Donald, Dan Ferretti, Wayne Goodey, Simon Hilton and Rob Pitkin set out to scale Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon within the space of 24 hours to raise money for the charity.

After a few hiccups, not least one of the group needing to be rescued mid climb, the group finished in just over 26 hours.

Mr Ferretti said: “Without doubt the hardest part of the attempt was Scafell Pike.

“We subsequently discovered mountain rescue had been called out several times over the course of that day.

"Had we not been sponsored as much as we had, then I would have given up but I think we felt a responsibility to see it through.”