Mr McCarthy has connections with Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Mickleover, Derby, and the Notts Diocesan Youth Service.

He said: “We are aiming to raise £1,000 each and we are fundraising through our local parishes and connections to local schools. Students at Saint John Houghton have kindly held a non-uniform day to support us and I would like to thank the school for agreeing to support me.

“I do a bit of running and I’ve done a few walks in preparation so hopefully I’ll be ok. The only thing is that I don’t like heights so this will be a bit of a personal challenge for me.

“That could be a bit tricky when I’m 4,000 feet up but it will be about overcoming some of my fears. It’s really important sometimes to take on challenges on life that are difficult.

“We will be covering about 30 miles in three days and I’ve never climbed a mountain before.”

Mr McCarthy said that The Briars was an important place for young people to go and reflect on their faith.

He said: “The Briars is an important place for young people. They go there to make new friends and learn about themselves, to learn about values, what’s important to them and to have fun. I have had the experience of taking young people to The Briars and they love it. It teaches them about teamwork and gives them the chance to take part in prayer and reflection. It’s a little bit about discovery and reflecting about their lives and what’s important in their lives.

Rachel Rose, chaplain at Saint John Houghton CVA, said: “How wonderful to start the day with such an inspirational Act of Worship and have a guest speaker in to share the challenge with our pupils. It’s so important that our young people know The Briars retreats are important and we are all working for the common good. We are very blessed to have such a good role model in school and I hope he won’t need the survival bag we gave him.”

To support Mr McCarthy visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/denismccarthy1