The Cumbrian mountaineer Doug Scott, who with Dougal Haston was one of the first two Britons to climb the world's highest mountain Everest , is battling inoperable brain cancer and continuing to raise money for the charity he spent his life developing.

Community Action Nepal

Doug, now 71, is seen here with his wife Trish opening a school in Nepal paid for by Community Action Nepal , which has built dozens of similar facilities and health centres in Himalayan villages.

Many were devastated in the 2015 earthquake, since when he has kept working to rebuild them, raising £2.5m and even last weekend climbing his staircase at home as part of an annual challenge event for the charity.

A spokesman for CAN said: "His illness is a terrible setback for his family and friends as well as CAN supporters in the UK and internationally, but he wants to see 'no let up' in the efforts to support and sustain the health, education and livelihoods of the mountain people of Nepal."