ABERGAVENNY firefighters climbed to the top of the world on Saturday to raise money for charity.

They took it in turns to be part of teams climbing up a ladder resting on Abergavenny’s Town Hall from 9am until about 2.15pm in reaching the equivalent height of Mount Everest together.

Overall 20 of them took part and teams consisted of 16 firefighters who were rotated to climb throughout the day.

Led by watch manager Neil Skelton, the group hope to have raised more than £3,000 by climbing up and down the ladder 988 times. They were given £2,000 in pledges alone even before the ladder was set up on Saturday morning, Mr Skelton said.

Half the proceeds will go to Macmillan Cancer Support – because fellow Abergavenny firefighter Mark Taylor’s wife Tracy is suffering from the disease – and the other half to the Fire Fighters Charity, which looks to help retired firefighters when they are in need.

Mr Skelton along with other colleagues decided they would undertake the challenge in the town centre about three weeks ago.

He said: “We decided (to do it) quite late. The (town) council accommodated us and gave us a lot of space on the patch so we were in the hub of it.”

The station’s commander Matt Jones, who also manages the fire stations in Monmouth and Chepstow, said the team in Abergavenny have got another idea up their sleeves for next year.

He said: “I’m really proud of the station. Next year we are going to do a ladder challenge but involving breaking a world record. Information is a bit sparse – but we’ll do it regardless of how long it is.”

Other than Mr Jones all of the firefighters at the three Monmouthshire stations are retained, so they help at the station in their own time, normally in addition to working another job.