A 34-year-old former chief reporter on a weekly newspaper has raised nearly £7,000 for a children’s charity while battling terminal cancer.

David Lawson, left, who worked as a journalist for the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertizer, was diagnosed with the illness just over a year ago.

Despite being told the cancer is incurable, David has remained busy and active by raising nearly £7,000 for a children’s charity with a New Year’s sponsored climb up a local landmark near the Shropshire border.

He scaled Rodney’s Pillar on Breidden Hill on the night of 31 December with friends to raise the cash for the charity which supports children in Kenya.

David described the climb as the hardest thing he has ever done and says he has been paying for it ever since.

“The reason I was so keen to make this one last effort before the cancer gets the better of me was to try and help the Kenyan Schools Project, whose work has helped me keep my own problems in perspective and brought me such a lot of joy these last few months,” he told his old paper.

David had hoped the efforts of him and his friends would earn the project around £3,000, the cost of building a classroom in Ukunda, Kenya.

But donations topped his target in less than 24 hours and it is currently approaching £7,000 with more money still coming in.

David , centre, is pictured at the summit of Rodney'sPillar flanked by his friends and supporters.

David said that the fundraising drive has been a real team effort and thanked everyone for their donations so far.

“It has touched me in a way I cannot easily put into words and personally brought me such pleasure to see everyone coming together to do something like this,” he added.

“Even now, people are still coming to me with other ideas they have for fundraising and wanting to keep adding to the total, so please keep sharing the link.

“The money goes such a long way out there and anything more we can add to it in the time I have remaining just makes me prouder still to have known you all and been a part of this.

“Getting me to the top of Rodney’s Pillar for midnight on New Year’s Eve was a real team effort, so I have to thank everyone for turning out to help, making sure all I had to do was to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

“Right up until a few hours before I wasn’t sure I was well enough to do it, but each time I read the comments that you were leaving on my Facebook page, it gave me such a lift that I knew I had to give it a shot.”

To donate to David and the Kenyan Schools Project click here.