A motorbike enthusiast from Cross Roads is looking to scale new heights to raise cash for Manorlands.

Speed fiend Chris Robinson is to have a crack at one of the most famous and fearsome hill climbs in the country on Easter Monday.

And he is calling on local people to sponsor him and raise cash for the Sue Ryder Care hospice in Oxenhope.

The 34-year-old furniture maker who runs Cross Roads Pine is to tackle the Red Marley climb in Worcestershire; a 550-yard wooded hill that starts off at a steady 1 in 10 gradient but increases to a not so gentle 1 in 3 at the summit. Chris said: "It is basically a very steep hill that you race up in pairs and it is the first man to the top, if any man actually manages to make it up the hill. If people do make it to the top the winner is the rider with the quickest time.

"I have done speed hill climbs but this is the first time I have tackled a steep climb like this which is a classified as a freak hill.

"I'm trying to get as many sponsors as possible so that I can help the folk at Manorlands."

Chris, who has just returned from a motorsport holiday at Daytona, America, will be revving up the hill on his vintage 1945 Matchless. The machine is a former army dispatch riders bike that he has modified, fitting it with a 50bhp speedway engine.

"I have ridden the bike in trials with a different engine but it is the first time I have done a freak hill climb on it," he said.

The event near Great Witley in the midlands is a permanent fixture in the motor sport calendar and attracts crowds of up to 8,000 every Easter.

Any one who would like to sponsor Chris is welcome to pop into the shop on Haworth Road or call on 01535 647227.