Hospice that helped Lord Bilston to benefit from gruelling £10,000 challenge

Ten friends will join Brendon Turner as he cycles, rows, runs and walk for a mammoth 135 miles.

The Wolverhampton-based charity cared for Lord Bilston in his final week and Mr Turner said the hospice was now close to his heart.

The challenge began in the early hours today and will see Mr Turner and friends aim for the summit of Mount Snowdon within 24 hours.

They will burn up to 12,000 calories in just one day and Mr Turner, aged 36, and from Bradley, said the final few days of training had gone to plan. "We've all been looking forward to it and been keen to get going," he said.

"Everything has been put into place and we've been eating as much as we can. We've been told we will burn 12,000 calories on the day so our bodies would have to be fully fuelled as that's five days worth of calories."

Lord Bilston died in February, aged 71. Up to 1,000 people attended his funeral to pay tribute to a Black Country hero labelled as a 'true man of the people'.

Mr Turner added: "Compton Hospice is a charity close to my heart now.

"They were phenomenal with dad when he was ill. I don't know how they do their job, it's so sad for them, they deserve all the money that we can raise.

Friends Steven Richards, 36, Alan Davies, 38, Ben Croot, 34, Jay Croot, 36, Paul Forthergill, 36, Reece Smith, 24, Mark Chambers, 37, Andrew Tiernan, 35, and Michael Sudlow, 24 will join Mr Turner for the challenge.

The team will be supported by physiotherapist Mathew Farrow, 42, and Colin Mathews, 47, who will be on hand with supplies and to help with broken bike repairs.

MPs and peers paid their respects to Lord Bilston in a packed memorial service in Parliament last month. They included Baroness Royall, Labour's leader in the Lords, the Labour peer and former Telford and Lichfield MP Lord Grocott, former Wolverhampton North East MP Ken Purchase, Sehdev Bismal of the Wolverhampton Fair Trade Partnership and Lord Bilston's family including his widow Pat.

The former MP for Wolverhampton South East represented the area for 18 years, followed by nine years in the House of Lords.

He had lived in Bilston all his life and had been at the forefront of a campaign to save its last steelworks from closure.

He had also spent many years on Wolverhampton Council, rising to become its deputy leader before his election to the Commons.

See www.justgiving.com/lord-bilston