AN adventurer and expedition leader who has helped celebrities climb mountains for charity shared some of the secrets of his success with North Yorkshire school children.

Dr Raj Joshi dropped in on pupils and staff at Tockwith CE Primary Academy.

Dr Raj has worked in some of the most inhospitable places in the world - in both a civilian and military capacity – from mountain, desert, polar and jungle environments, right through to warzones.

He is one of a select few people to have successfully climbed, unguided, the highest mountain on every continent on Earth.

He led the celebrity BBC Comic Relief climb with Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles and a host of other celebrities to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

In doing so, Raj helped the celebrity team raise £3.3 million to fight malaria in East Africa.

Raj toured classrooms at Tockwith telling pupils of his adventures and answering questions, before a special parents’ event in the evening.

Head teacher, Justin Reeve, said: “We were thrilled and delighted that a real life adventurer such as Raj agreed to come to our school.

“He was a real inspiration to the children and we all learned a lot from his visit.”

Tockwith is part of Ebor Academy Trust, with 22 schools across York, Selby, the Yorkshire Coast and in the East Riding and the Humber.

Ebor was established in 2013 when Robert Wilkinson Primary School was asked to help Haxby Road Primary. Both schools becoming academies was the best way to make that happen.

Since then, small village schools, large urban schools, schools in challenging circumstances and those which have capacity to support others have all joined the trust.

Tockwith joined the trust last year, becoming Ebor’s 15th academy.