TWO friends who met at the bar of a York pub are planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise £3,000 for an ME charity.

Steve Rodgers and John Griffin, whose 15-year-old daughter, Lauren, suffers from the debilitating disease, are flying to the Kenyan capital Nairobi next week to set off for the gruelling 20,000ft climb during a ten-day expedition.

All the money raised will go to the Tymes Trust, which uses all its resources helping children and young people with ME.

Steve, managing director of FW Leighton (Construction) Ltd in Shipton, York, said the pair got to know each other in the Crystal Palace pub in Holgate Road.

They also regularly go walking and climbing together in Britain in addition to their regular gym and circuit training sessions.

Although John has previously reached the base camp of Mount Everest, Steve is not an experienced climber, but he is confident that they will both achieve their goal.

The 44-year-old said: "We are confident and we are looking forward to it. It's going to be quite a challenge.

"There was a recent television programme when a soap star did the climb and it just showed how exhausting it is.

"The air is so thin that there isn't a great deal of oxygen and we have to really pace ourselves and walk at a very slow pace.

"Sometimes that is down to ten paces, stopping to catch our breath, and then ten more paces.

"We are hoping to raise around £3,000, with all of that going to the Trust. We are paying for the expedition ourselves so everything we raise will go to the charity."

If anyone wants to sponsor the pair, contact Steve on 07836 294892.

Updated: 12:17 Wednesday, June 26, 2002