STAFF at a Thornbury business climbed over 11,000ft of mountains to raise thousands of pounds for charity.


Eighteen members of staff at lens manufacturer Essilor, which has its headquarters in Cooper Road, put on their mountain boots and took on the ‘Essilor Thornbury's Three Peaks Challenge.’


The challenge saw the group climb Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain at 4,409ft on July 31, then Scafell Pike, 3,209ft in the Lake District on August 1 and finally Snowdon in Wales, 3,560ft the following day.


Production manager at Essilor Daniel Peacey, 41, said the group were surprised to have raised so much money.


“We never had a set target, but it’s great that we made £3,000, we definitely exceeded what we thought we would make,” he said.


“A lot of us have wanted to climb mountains for a while so I organised the challenge, and we decided to fundraise for the company’s two charities – Brain Tumour Support, which is based in Thornbury, and Vision Aid Overseas.


“It was hard – the weather was awful on the first climb, which took about eight hours and it was extremely cold at times, at -5C.


“There was a range of fitness levels and ages of people in the group, from around 12 to 56-year-old so it was harder for some of us.


“We didn’t jump straight into it though, we were doing training walks since January in preparation for the challenge.”


The money raised will be split between both charities - Brain Tumour Support, the only brain tumour charity dedicated to support across the South West and Midlands, and Vision Aid Overseas, an international charity dedicated to fighting poverty by transforming access to eyecare in developing countries.


Mr Peacey added: “We are looking at doing a similar type of challenge next year and we are still looking for donations – we have a fundraising page up and running still for people to donate on."


To make a donate visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Essilor3peakschallenge.