TWO women are gearing up to tackle the challenge of a lifetime in aid of charity.

Anne Slater and Rita Hinchliffe, both of Skelmanthorpe, are going on a 56-mile trek through the Andes mountains in Peru to raise cash for the national mental health charity Mind.

Mind offers confidential advice and support to people with mental health problems.

The two women have to raise £2,600 each before they can jet off on May 16 next year.

They will be in Peru for 10 days. The first five will be for acclimatisation and getting used to the high altitudes.

The next five days will involve arduous treks along rarely-used ancient Inca tracks, past snow-capped mountains, glaciers and the Urubamba river.

They will end their journey at the "lost" ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.

Mrs Hinchliffe, a nurse, spotted the advert for the trek in a copy of the Big Issue magazine.

She said Mind was one of her favourite charities and she wanted to help.

"I thought this would be a challenge," she said. "The main challenge for us will be fundraising and achieving the level of fitness we need.

"I am really looking forward to it: it is so exciting."

Mrs Slater, who works at Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing business unit, said: "One in four people suffers from mental health-related issues at some time.

"Every year 100,000 people make a suicide attempt, 21m prescriptions are issued for tranquillisers and 40% of GP consultations are for mental health problems. So I believe this is a worthwhile cause."

Both women have experience of local fundraising.

Mrs Slater has raised cash for Kirkwood Hospice at Dalton, Barnsley Hospice and the Heart of Huddersfield Appeal, to buy a state of the art cardiac unit for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

She recently graduated with a diploma in counselling from Leeds University and counsels at the Wakefield Well Woman Centre, Barnsley Hospice and the children's Star Bereavement Group at Wakefield Hospice.

To raise the cash they need, Mrs Hinchliffe and Mrs Slater will be holding a series of events, the first of which is to be a coffee morning at Mrs Slater's home on August 30.

Other events include a pub crawl, a slim and swim event, a car boot sale, a sponsored walk, a curry night, a race night and an entertainment evening with Last of the Summer Wine actor Tom Owen in September.

Contact Mrs Slater on 01484 863908.