One of the UK's most prominent fundraisers has just completed an epic ascent of Mount Everest - for the fifth time.
David Tait, a deeply committed champion of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), has already raised more than £650,000 from his previous four scalings of the world's highest mountain and through his JustGiving page alone, he has raised a further £198,000 from this latest climb.
David Tait (in yellow) and the NSPCC team celebrate on Everest
David's devotion to the NSPCC is highly personal and involves a traumatic childhood when he was abused by an uncle. As he says in his own account:
I was one of the children the NSPCC now cares for - as a 10 year old boy I was raped by an uncle in his small tea-shop in the center of Deptford Park, South London. The assaults continued daily for 4/5 months before we moved away, but the legacy resulted in much misery - from the loss of my marriage and kids to the suicide of my mother and much, much more.
I chose to support the NSPCC from an early age, progressively increasing my fundraising profile, culminating in my first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 2005 - the first 'feel good' moment of my life it seemed.
His decision to focus on climbing led to three more ascents of Everest in 2007, 2009 and 2011 before 2013's expedition and he has become so well known in the climbing fraternity that he is known as 'Mr Everest'.
This year's climb coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay as well as the 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation. However, David hopes that his achievement will be more widely recognised because of more recent events.
"This project couldn’t have come at a more 'sensitive' time with the country still in shock from the [Jimmy] Savile revelations," he said.
In a statement on its website, the NSPCC thanked David for "risking life and limb again and again in support of our work".
For more on David Tait's story, watch the video below.