A REDDITCH based charity is hoping to raise £3 million by October 2015 to double the number of nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants it currently supports who have fallen on hard times.

As well as a number of other activities and events Cavell Nurses' Trust has organised a sponsored climb of Mount Edith Cavell in the Canadian Rockies next year.

It is part of the charity's Centenary Appeal.

Ann-Marie Dodson, a former hospital sister who now runs the hepatology and liver transplant course at Birmingham City University, is preparing to take on the 3,363 metre high Mount Edith Cavell which is named after the First World War heroine executed in 1915 for helping 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.

Ann-Marie, who last year took a group of nursing students to look at health care needs in Nepal and trek to Everest base camp, said: "I will be 58 next year when I take part in the Mount Cavell climb so I will probably be the oldest.

"I think it's going to be more technical than I have done for a long time but I am very determined, even though I recently had knee surgery."

As part of her preparations, as well as fundraising for Cavell Nurses' Trust, Ann-Marie will be running a number of half and full marathons in the lead up to the climb, including the Polar night marathon in the Arctic in January.

For more information about the charity, visit cavellnursestrust.org or call 01527 595999.