A GROUP of friends are raising money for mental health services in Pembrokeshire by climbing Britain’s tallest mountain tomorrow.

Fundraising group Steps for the Shire is made up of thirteen friends who have all had their lives or the lives of friends and family effected by addiction or mental illness.

The group decided to raise awareness about the lack of local support services and give back to county charities Mind Pembrokeshire and the VC Gallery for their work supporting those living with mental illness.

Kelly McHarries, one of the group’s members said: “We wanted to do something positive. We are all good friends who meet up once a year and walk mountains, we wanted to combine that with helping other people out.”

She added: “We chose the VC Gallery and Pembrokeshire Mind because we felt together they offer very different services to the county and excellent support.”

The group has been training for the gruelling trek up the 4,400ft Scottish peak by walking the Pembrokeshire coastline.

“We have seen parts of the coast we have never visited before while training for this,” said Kelly.

The group will be aided by two friends who live in Scotland when they arrive, who they have dubbed their “Scottish Sherpas”.

Steps for the Shire held a coffee morning at the VC Gallery on July 4, which helped them to raise more than £700, and a further £1,300 was raised through a raffle.

Prizes for the raffle were donated to Steps for the Shire from businesses across the county, who happily gave goods and services for free to aid the cause.

There was also an art workshop at the coffee morning where visitors were given the opportunity to sketch the Ben.

Online, Steps for the Shire has raised £900 of their £2,000 goal.

For more information or to donate, visit their GoFundMe page.