A CHARITY trek across the North York Moors by a team of bank staff from York has raised thousands of pounds for local hospices.

The 15-strong team from Yorkshire Bank’s headquarters at Clifton Moor, battled mud and foul weather to complete the 40-mile Lyke Wake Walk from Osmotherley to Ravenscar in 24 hours.

All the money raised has been matched pound-for-pound by Yorkshire Bank, meaning St Leonard’s Hospice in York and Martin House Hospice in Boston Spa, will each receive £5,452.

Janet Morley, director of fundraising at St Leonard’s Hospice, said: “The Lyke Wake Walk is well known as one of the most challenging of tests for charity walkers, and it’s very brave of our Yorkshire Bank supporters to have slogged through what sound to have been atrocious conditions.”