A retired soldier from Gobowen is preparing to scale Mount Parchemuche in Nepal.

Through the trek Roy Francis, who now lives in the French Pyrenees, aims to raise £20,575 that will go towards helping to rebuild and equip a school in Nepal that was destroyed when earthquakes struck in 2015.

The 69-year-old has always had a love of climbing mountains having scaled Snowdonia while he was a pupil at the former St Martins Modern and going on regular hill hikes.

After joining the Army he developed his love of mountains, qualifying a mountain leader and rock climbing instructor and was posted to the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre.

He continued: "I thought life could not get better. But here I was wrong, because in 1976 I was invited to join the Army's Mount Everest Expedition. Climbing Everest, my childhood dream, proved a life changer. I was bitten by the Himalayan bug and fell in love with Nepal."

Roy returned to regimental duty the following year and continued in the Army until he retired in 1993, when he set up Pilgrim Expeditions, an adventure enterprise for student, scout, cadet and adult groups to the Himalayas, India, Nepal and Tibet for many years.

More recently he has established Aide Nepal Magnoac, a French registed charity which will benefit from his forthcoming trek up the 6,273m mountain which will take almost a month to complete - aiming to reach the summit on his 70th birthday on November 2.

Roy added: "The people of the Himalaya have played a massive part in my life and it is a privilege to help them in their time of need."

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/aidenepalmagnoac