March man aims to walk up Mount Snowdon six times in 24 hours in memory of Army pal

Corporal Lee Scott who died in July 2009 serving in Afghanistan (Image: Archant)

Simon Whittaker will be lacing up his walking boots alongside his pals Tracie, Nigel and Melvin for the mission on April 28 - 29.

Simon, from March, served alongside Lee for seven years and will be raising money on behalf of Scotty’s Little Soldiers - which was set up following his death.

The father-of-two from Kings Lynn was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in July 2009.

Now Simon wants to pay respects to his former comrade by completing the ultimate challenge in his memory and raising vital funds for the charity which offers a lifeline to hundreds of bereaved children who have lost a parent in the armed forces.

The 45-year-old explained: “I served with Lee for seven years in Tidworth and Afghanistan and I’ve done lots of other things for the charity but this will be a challenge.

“I wanted to do something bigger and better, I went up there last year in two hours 41 minutes on my own, but now I’ve estimated that we can do it six times.

“It will be great to have the support from my friends as we’ll be going up as a team.

“We’ve been doing our training separately for about three months now due to our shift patterns.

“When it gets dark it will be difficult, we know that, but we’ll have each other.”

Simon, who works at Greenvale, said Lee would have been backing them all the way.

The father-of-two added: “He would have loved the idea and been over the moon.

“I’m still in touch with his wife Nikki, and she’s really pleased with what we’re doing but can’t believe how crazy we are.

“We’re hoping to raise around £3,000 so that’s why we’ve set up the Just Giving page to get the message out there too.”

To donate to the cause visit www.justgiving.com/teams/Gero or ‘Dscottys summit bashers’ on Facebook.

For more information on Scotty’s Little Soldiers visit www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk