BRIERLEY Hill based pharmacist Vijay Lad is back recovering from his charity fundraising ordeal after completing the Three Peaks Challenge.

Vijay, who lives in Kingswinford, joined 22 family members and friends from across the country to scale Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis.

Between them, they hope to raise in the region of £25,000 for several charities.

Vijay, who is proprietor and head pharmacist at McArdles in Brierley Hill High Street, admitted the challenge, especially up Ben Nevis, was more demanding than expected owing to the fact it was the hottest day on record in Fort William at 31 degrees.

He revealed: "Some of the people taking part were diabetics or suffered from high blood pressure. But the training they went through has changed their lifestyle for the better, because such things as diet and exercise were never in their remit.

"The idea to do the challenge came from my brother Jay, an optician in Birmingham who wanted to do something different for his 50th birthday.

Consequently he roped everyone in and we became known as the 'Peaky Climbers'.

"One of the charities, India Direct came up to the Lake District to support us, which we were all quite chuffed about.

"It wasn't easy and one of the party did go down with heat stroke!

Vijay raised in the region of £2,000 himself which included staging a raffle at his pharmacy which his customers supported.

Such was the success that Vijay and his family are already planning their next challenge.