THE founders of the Help for Heroes charity began the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro on Saturday alongside a group of wounded servicemen, in the hope of raising thousands of pounds.

Bryn and Emma Parry, from Downton, set up the charity in 2007 to raise money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in service.

Their latest adventure involves them trekking for seven days across rough terrain to reach the summit of the mountain, which stands at 5,896m, is the tallest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

They will be joining on the challenge by Craig Lundberg, who is blind, and Darren Topham, the man who saved his life in Iraq.

The ‘Band of 5’ soldiers, Jonathon Le Galloudec, John Sandford Hart, Tony Burbidge, Stuart Le Coulliard and Richard Glover will also be taking part, as well as Stuart Trow, who lost his lower leg in Afghanistan, and Natalie Fellows, walking in memory of her husband Jamie who was killed in Afghanistan in December.

Mr and Mrs Parry will also be accompanied by their daughters Louisa and Sophie, and son Tom, who has just returned from serving in Afghanistan.

“When Emma and I set up Help for Heroes we knew it would be challenging, though we had no idea we would have to face personal challenges like this one,” said Mr Parry.

“But when I mentioned that I had some concerns about the climb the answer from the wounded guys was ‘don’t worry boss, we’ll get you up it’.”

“That just about sums up why we are doing this.”

To date Help for Heroes has raised more than £20million.