A group of cousins has braved the elements and conquered Mount Snowdon to raise money for charity and to remember a family member.

Laura McLellan, a charity worker from Croydon, was one of 15 cousins who raised £1,000 for the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (Cafod).

Their hike was in memory of the life of their relative, Mark Gilbert, who died this year from muscular dystrophy, aged just 35.

Miss McLellan, 24, from Kingscote Road in Addiscombe, pitched her tent on a hillside and joined her family in tackling the highest mountain in England and Wales in an eight-hour round trip on August 29 in aid of a tribute fund set up in Mr Gilbert’s memory.

Miss McLellan, said: “It took all our strength and determination to make it up there, and even more to get back to the bottom, especially once the rain started coming down.”

The group thought climbing Snowdon was an appropriate tribute to Mr Gilbert, who had been so impressed by the climbers he saw when visiting a mountain range that, later that day, he was determined to climb three steps at the entrance to his hotel entirely on his own, despite being severely disabled.

It took him half an hour, but he succeeded.

Miss McLellan said: “Mark was an inspiration to everyone.”

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