‘Climber’, 90, is halfway to peak

A WOMAN aged 90 has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the NHS by ‘virtually’ climbing a mountain in her own home.

Margaret Payne decided to scale the equivalent of the 2,398ft Highland peak Suilven on the stairs at the property in Ardvar, Sutherland.

It has been worked out that 282 trips up the staircase will see her ‘reach the summit’ of the Sutherland mountain. She started out on Easter Sunday and reached the halfway mark yesterday – as the total raised hit £395,000.

Mrs Payne, originally from London, first climbed Suilven in 1944 after being evacuated to Lochinver. She said: ‘The NHS workers are wonderful and I wanted to do this as a thank you. The care I’ve received over the years has been fantastic.’