A restaurant owner is preparing to conquer Africa's highest mountain to raise thousands of pounds for a West Norfolk-based charity.

John Murphy, who runs Downham Market-based Arbuckles with wife Maxine, is taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with brother Dominic to raise money for the Norfolk Hospice.

The pair have so far raised �1,318, but if they manage to raise �2,000 this will be doubled by Arbuckles.

The 36-year-old said: 'I have only really worked and raised a family, and haven't really done much outside of the UK, so we decided it would be good to do one epic challenge every year that we would have to train for.

'We decided to take on this challenge and have both been in training since Christmas, and have got into much better shape than we were in.

'I have managed to lose 20lbs (9kg) during the process and my metabolic age has gone from a very scary 52 years old – bearing in mind I am 36 – to a much more respectable 22 years old. We have also been on a two-day camping trip to the Lake District to try to put as many climbing miles as possible into out legs before we go.'

They decided to raise money for the Norfolk Hospice after Mr Murphy asked his customers to name a local charity, and the Snettisham-based charity came out on top.

Mr Murphy, who lives in Fordham, near Downham Market, continued: 'With just a few days to go until the trip, we are both just looking forward to it. We have prepared ourselves for it to be very hard and we both think the altitude sickness is going to be the hardest challenge.'

The Norfolk Hospice supports more than 280 people every month at its current hospice in Snettisham and has the support of 250 volunteers as well as paid staff.

To sponsor the duo click the link on the right-hand side of the page.