A CLOSE group of friends who work together at a Stockton Heath wine bar trekked up Snowdon to raise awareness for the charity that one of them started.

Eleanor Jones started C&D Where the Music Takes You in memory of her friends, Candice Roberts and David Wright, to offer music therapy.

Seven of Eleanor’s colleagues at the Wine Bar, including her boss, Karen Glover, joined her in the challenge to climb Snowdon.

Matthew Ball, 22, works at the bar on weekends and said the trip was planned only a couple of weeks in advance: “Preparation? There wasn’t any.”

He said that when they arrived there was a sign instructing climbers to use crampons (spiked soles for rock climbing) and a pickaxe.

“We didn’t have any but we thought we would give it a go anyway,” said Matt.

“On the way up it was going fine but when we got to the top it was really icy, somehow as a team we got there.”

On the trek down they took the wrong route and when they spoke to an experienced Snowdon climber he told them they had taken the ‘killer route’.

“We looked up to where we [had walked] and if we could have seen it, we wouldn’t have done it – we were so close to the edge,” said Matt.

But the friends were not put off and are planning to do another trek for the charity.

“Even though we nearly died, we enjoyed it – we are going to do the Three Peaks now. Hopefully we will go the safer way,” said Matt.

Eleanor works at the wine bar on weekends and said: “Working in a bar does help because people constantly ask about the charity – the guys that I work with are really, really supportive.”

“We are literally a family, we call ourselves the Wine Bar Family.”

She said one of the climbers, Jack Bottomley, got cramp during the trek and they had to help carry him.

“That is what got us down – being a team, we just supported each other.”

C&D Where the Music Takes You does not ask people to donate money but instead asks for instruments and volunteers for workshops.

“It’s humbling to know that people are willing to donate their time,” said Eleanor.

For more information visit www.cdwherethemusictakesyou.com.