A COUPLE from a village near York joined friends and family for a challenging trek across the Sahara Desert to raise £45,000 for charity - in memory of their nephew, who died after an asthma attack.

Jan and Paul Drinkall, who live at Barmby Moor, have spent months raising money for the National Asthma Campaign, which funds medical research and offers support to sufferers, through a series of events.

Now they have returned from a week of sandstorms and blistering sunshine ready to hand over a cheque to the charity.

The couple were joined on the trek by Jan's sister, Judith, and her husband Brian Shaw, whose eight-year-old son Daniel died after a severe asthma attack.

Eleven other friends and family members completed the group and between them they raised £45,000 in total.

The group endured daytime temperatures of about 30C, dropping to freezing at night. They covered 65 miles in six days, camping under the stars.

Mrs Drinkall, who is also a committee member for York Macmillan Cancer Relief, said it was a unique experience that tested the group but also provided them with some fantastic memories.

She said: "We had a sandstorm one night and there was sand everywhere, we were grounded.

"It was in my sleeping bag in the tent. It was in my eyes, in my ears, I was eating sand.

"But the trek was a fantastic thing to do. I expected the desert to be all sand and it wasn't like that.

"There were soft sand areas, rocky bits and then there was a day when we walked through quite a lot of green.

"It was very varied, which I hadn't expected."

The 110km trek, which was completed by a 70-strong group, raised a total of £180,000 for the National Asthma Campaign, with £45,000 of that raised by Mrs Drinkall's group.

Much of their fundraising was through organising special events such as an It's A Knockout competition on Knavesmire, when the money was split with Macmillan. They also organised a Chinese banquet and fashion show and a Hallowe'en ball.

Updated: 11:23 Saturday, January 12, 2002