SPURRED on by their £4,000 open day fund-raiser and the courage of four year-old William Bramley who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic leukaemia in December 2017, firefighters are to take on a tougher challenge.

The Skipton crew are to tackle Ben Nevis, the the highest peak in the UK, later this month in a bid to boost their fund-raising for Candlelighters.

William's mum, Joanne of Skipton, said: "As a family we cannot thank Candlelighters enough for the emotional and financial support we have received.

"They have helped enormously in trying to make things normal in what is a very abnormal situation.

"The fire station event was a great day and has raised a fantastic amount of money to help Candlelighters continue the work that they do.”

Firefighter Martyn Hughes said: “We heard of Williams’s illness shortly after diagnosis in December last year as he is related to one of our firefighters at Skipton.

"We are subject to seeing some harrowing and unwholesome events, yet to see a little boy fighting for his life has driven us to help both William and other sick children in ways that we may not necessarily have thought we could.

"Following on from the success of our recent open day, we had the pleasure of visiting the amazing team at Candlelighters. The whole experience so far has been incredible and one that has given us additional motivation to do so much more and hopefully make a difference to so many people.

"I would like to thank the local community and Rolls Royce where Williams’s dad Chris Bramley works, for the incredible donations and generosity we have received.

"Sometimes as firefighters we are referred to as heroes, yet for me, to see a little child going through so much pain, they are the real heroes, inspirations and role models.

"Some say you should never meet your hero, yet on the contrary, having had the pleasure to get to know William, we have certainly made friends for life and it is our honour to support him and the charity.”

Gina Trotter, Community Fundraiser from Candlelighters said “We have been blown away by the amount of support coming from the Skipton area.

"The fire service have done an incredible job with their fundraising so far. We really appreciate their enthusiasm for continuing to support Candlelighters and William.”

People can donate to Just Giving page by searching “Walk4William” or calling the Candlelighters office 0113 322 9283.