Rigby and Rigby stepped in to support student James Hadley, the son of Rigby and Rigby quantity surveyor Adam, in his quest to climb the 6,000-metre-high Kilimanjaro mountain, in Tanzania, in aid of the Meningitis Research Foundation.

James raised £3,000 for the charity, which has significance for the Hadley family, ahead of the climb this summer as well as undertaking a training regime to help with the grueling physical conditions faced by climbers on the mountain.

“I am not a terribly fit person, but I took up running and tried to improve my condition before leaving for the climb. I thought if radio DJ Chris Moyles – who climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief – can manage it, then so can I!” said James.

“It was a brilliant experience,” he continued. The first couple of days were a bit of a shock, getting used to the altitude. Every day you climb higher then sleep a little lower to acclimatize. The climb starts in the rainforest and quickly rises through the clouds to the mountain itself which is barren – with hard rock, shale and dust. The trail is well trodden but still hard work as it isn’t always steady underfoot. It took five days to get to summit and two days to get down.

“The final day was quite rough. We climbed for ten hours through the night to reach the summit but I have to say that watching the sun rise over Tanzania was one of the best sights I’ve ever seen in my life and made it all worthwhile.”

Fundraising and preparing for the trip took just over a year outside of James’ study time. He added: “Friends and family were very supportive and generous, as was Rigby and Rigby and I would particularly like to thank them for their incredible and generous support.