ADVENTUROUS Spa woman Caroline Butcher will be scaling new heights on Africa’s highest peak in aid of a disability charity.

Caroline, of Nightingale Place, is preparing to take part in Scope’s Kilimanjaro Trek this month.

Over a six-day period, she will be trekking along the Rongai route which approaches Kilimanjaro from the north and retains a sense of untouched wilderness.

This is one of Scope’s most physically demanding challenges. Participants will be hiking for an average of six hours everyday and often at altitudes over 4,000 metres to reach the summit of the world’s tallest freestanding mountain, which stands imposingly at 5,895 metres. They will also have to cope with high altitude, steep climbs and wide-ranging temperatures. The 42-year-old is currently training hard to ensure she is in peak physical and mental condition for the gruelling trek.

To take part in the event, she has to raise £3,000 in sponsorship.

To date, she has raised £4,400 against her personal target of £5,000. Her generous employer, Paintbox Limited, with sites in Kings Norton and Banbury, will double every pound raised. You can still sponsor her at www.justgiving.com/carolinebutcher Caroline’s other corporate sponsors are M-Tec Recruitment, Heath Lambert Group, Healthy Performance, Bourne Technical Mouldings, METtraining, Impact Company Clothing and Techno Kolor Ltd, who have kindly donated £200 each to this worthy cause.

Caroline said: “I’m very excited about this trek. Although I will face my biggest challenge to date, I am very pleased that the funds I raise will help Scope support disabled people to achieve equality.”

Daniel Larcey, senior events fundraiser at Scope, added: “This is one of our toughest challenges, both on a physical and mental level. However, all the effort participants will be putting in during the gruelling trek will be forgotten once they reach the top and take in the views.”

If anyone thinks they are up to this type of challenge, but wants a bit more time to prepare, Scope is currently signing participants up to its Kilimanjaro trek in June 2009. Scope was one of the first charities to organise overseas challenge events and has raised nearly £23 million through this form of fundraising. The money raised will help Scope provide vital services for people with cerebral palsy and support its Time to Get Equal campaign – which fights for equality for all disabled people. For further information on other events run by Scope visit www.scope.org.uk/adventures or call the 24-hour events hotline on 0800 0191 200.