A PORTHMADOG-BASED mountain rescue volunteer who found his son’s body in a field near the family home is undertaking a gruelling 24-hour challenge to raise money for a new mental health initiative.

On St David’s Day last year, Dion Llwyd-Hopcroft had the terrible task of leading the Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team in the search for his own 18-year-old son, Josh.

Heartbreakingly, Dion discovered Josh’s body in a field not far from his family home in Llanfair, near Harlech, in the early hours of the morning.

The sudden and unexpected death devastated the Llwyd-Hopcroft family but now, 18 months later, they are setting up their own charity ‘Josh’s Tree House Project’ to make sure nobody else has to go through what they, and Josh, went through.

The tree house project will be a cabin that will be used for private counselling sessions, speaks, group talks, bereavement sessions and most importantly educational talks about suicide prevention.

In order to raise funds for the poignant new project, Josh’s dad has decided to put his fitness to the test and walk as far as he can in 24 hours along the Wales Coastal Path, starting from Llanfair and heading north.

The event has already raised £250 online but Dion is targeting £2,000 for his son’s tree house project.

For more information, or to donate, please visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dllwyd

Read the full story in today’s north editions of the Cambrian News