Derbyshire teenager and 6-year-old friend will raise money for animal rescue centre by climbing Mount Snowdon

Sophia Frith, 13, who lives in Heanor, and six-year-old Megan Stammers-Bennett, of Eastwood, will tackle Mount Snowdon on March 26, 2022.

The girls, who will be accompanied by Megan’s mum and dad Kelly and Pete on the climb, have smashed their goal of raising £380 for Brinsley Animal Rescue with £645 already donated via an online gofundme page.

Sophia is a pupil at Aldercar High School, an Army cadet based in Ilkeston and is doing the climb as part of her Duke of Edinburgh bronze award. She said: “I love being outside and especially now I can do this and raise money for animals while having fun, thank you so far to everyone that has donated to Brinsley Animal Rescue, every little helps.”

Her mum, Rachel, said: “We are really proud of Sophia and love the energy and passion that she has. Once she gets an idea in her head she throws herself into it 100%”

"Sophia has climbed Mount Snowdon before with myself, my husband Lee and her sister Amelia, but Megan hadn’t and wanted to.

"Both the girls are wanting to raise as much money as they can for the rescue centre as this is very close to their hearts.

"Our dog who we lost nearly two years ago was a rescue and both girls want to help the centre look after all animals as best they can till they get their forever home.”

On the gofundme page, Megan’s mum Kelly writes: “Brinsley animal rescue are local to us and we follow them on Facebook. Recently we saw that they had been looking after a hedgehog that had been injured after having acid poured on it, this understandably upset Megan and led to lots of questions around how they help the animals there. After speaking about fundraising Megan decided she wants to try and raise £100 for the rescue.”

Megan has previously climbed an 884-metre high mountain called the Cobbler in Scotland but at 1085metres tall, Mount Snowdown presents her with a much bigger challenge.

To support Sophia and Megan in raising money for Brinsley Animal Rescue, go to shorturl.at/cBENR