A POPULAR charity is hoping East Lancashire will remember them in their New Year's resolutions and commit to a fundraising trip of a lifetime.

The Anthony Nolan Trust, which operates a bone marrow register, is organising a team of 20 hikers to climb the 17,000ft Kilimanjaro summit in 2004.

Trust spokesperson Paul Montgomery said: "Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and reaching the summit really is the challenge of a lifetime.

"However, in doing so our team will raise vital funds to provide bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for thousands of people facing a very difficult challenge of their own.

"Leukaemia can strike anyone at any time and does not discriminate. There are thousands of people, many of them children, waiting for life-saving treatment.

"By taking part in the trek you will be helping a team dedicated to beating the disease and giving hope to sufferers whose only chance of survival is transplant."

The snow-capped peak of the dormant volcano lies just three degrees south of the equator in Tanzania.

The trek takes place in the last week of January 2004, to allow participants time to raise the necessary funds. Further information from the Anthony Nolan Trust on 01865 875757 or visit treks@anthonynolan.org.uk.