THE lives of two men who were 'friends with everyone' were remembered by former colleagues in a three- peaks climb.

A 14-strong team from Akzo Nobel climbed the three tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales in remembrance of Dave Whittaker and Phil Hynam who died of cancer in 2004 aged 54 and in 2006 aged 58, respectively.

They had both worked for the company for over 25 years and were good friends.

The group from the research and development laboratories at the Hollins Road chemicals and coatings company took on the Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

Dave, of London Terrace, Darwen, died of bowel cancer and Phil, of Blackburn, died of stomach cancer.

Friend and colleague Marcus Cosgrove, 44, of Chapter Road, Darwen, who worked with father-of-two Phil for about 15 years and Dave for over 20 years, said both men were often thought of by the team. He said: "They were fairly sociable characters outside of work and both had a good sense of humour. They were friendly with everyone and really popular. It's quite a close-knit community - everybody gets on with everybody else and it was a shock when they died.

"It's a small team, there's about 20 people, so they are remembered."

Marcus said: "One of my colleagues and me did the Three Peaks Challenge about four years ago. We had said we would never do it again but as a laugh we said we'd do it if another person wanted to. But it turned out everyone wanted to do it.

"Most of them had not done anything like this before and had to put in a lot of training."

The team first climbed Snowdon, then took the bus back to England to take on Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

That scaled, they then took another bus to Fort William for the final leg tackling Ben Nevis.

The team completed the task in 36 hours and raised £2,245.

Cancer Research UK area volunteer manager Helen Kitchen said: "Not only is it a fantastic way to come together and remember others, it also raises money for vital research into cancer."

The group are still collecting donations through their online site www.justgiving.com/ANDC3Peaks.