Employees from a Manchester-based digital agency are climbing Snowdon as part of a fundraising effort for national assistance dog charity, Support Dogs.

Support Dogs provides and trains assistance dogs for children with autism and adults with epilepsy and physical disability, enabling them to lead safer, more independent lives.

A long-running backer of the charity, the agency, CandidSky, provides services to businesses such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), and content marketing.

Taking a break from their usual routine, Tom Chapman, Paul Jasper, Simon Fryer, Mitesh Patel, and David Beharall are looking forward to the challenge on September 27.

“I’ve climbed Snowdon a couple of times,” said Tom, “but some of my colleagues haven’t. Plus I’m planning a challenging route which will certainly test all of us."

The group is hoping to raise £500 for the climb and have a designated page on Just Giving for the event.

They will also be raising money from other events prior to Snowdon, such as a bake sale earlier in the month.

Simon Fryer, director of CandidSky, said: “Support Dogs have an incredible impact on people with epilepsy, autism, and physical disabilities. They help them live independently and increase their overall quality of life in ways that - in many cases - technology is not yet able to.

“It's remarkable just how much they can help, so it was an easy decision to raise money for Support Dogs, an organisation that makes an impressive contribution to improving lives.”

Outside of work, the team are big dog lovers with Simon owning two pups – Otis and Pumpkin – while Tom has a Labrador named Rufus.

Support Dogs’ corporate fundraiser Laura Baker said: “We’re thrilled that CandidSky are putting their best paws forward aiming to touch the skies with their hike in aid of our charity up one of the highest mountains in the UK. We are extremely grateful for their fantastic support this year; it really will make a huge difference to lives of those we support.”