A SHIPYARD manager living with multiple sclerosis will lead a team of inspired friends to climb ten mountains in ten hours.

Daniel Taylor, who works at BAE Systems in Barrow, will take on the 10in10 challenge on Saturday June 25, hiking through the Lake District with friends and colleagues.

The flagship event organised by the MS Society collects money for research into the neurological disease which causes chronic fatigue, tremors, muscle stiffness and spasms, and difficulty swallowing.

No cure

Mr Taylor, of Ulverston, has been diagnosed with a progessive form of MS for more than two years and wants to raise money to research the condition.

He said: "I have been diagnosed about two-and-a-half years and to date there is no outward sign of disability with me. There's no real cure.

"I have done the 10in10 every year since I was diagnosed myself.

"The event raised about £60,000 last year in support of the progressive form of illness. It's a brilliant challenge."

The 41-year-old has started taking medication this year for his MS and hopes it will minimise his symptoms so he can continue to do the things he enjoys for many years to come.

The diagnosis motivated him to take to the great outdoors and Mr Taylor has been supported by the Furness MS Society ever since.

About the 10in10

Organisers of the 10in10 are targeting a fundraising total of £70,000 and around 400 people are doing the challenge this year.

The walk course starts in the Newlands Valley near Keswick, and will see teams climb Causey Pike, Sail, Crag Hill, Wandope, Whiteless Pike, High Snockrigg, Robinson, Dale Head, High Spy and Maiden Moor.

Fundraising ambition

Mr Taylor's team, the Tetchy Muddy-Suckers, consists of 18 members.

You can sponsor them by visiting their Justgiving page here .

The group is targeting a grand total of £5,000 and has so far collected around £1,200.

Five facts about MS

- In MS, the coating around nerve fibres (called myelin) is damaged, affecting sight, memory and speech.

- More than 100,000 people in the UK have MS.

- Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, but it can affect younger and older people too.

- Roughly three times as many women have MS as men.

- MS is not directly inherited – unlike some conditions, like cystic fibrosis, for example, there is no single gene that causes it.