A church curate has set out on a dizzying challenge to climb the equivalent height of Mount Everest by walking up and down his church s tower. The Rev Craig Bentley, curate at St Mark’s in Natland, is working towards ascending the church’s tower 500 times to support the work of the church and the International Nepal Fellowship. After two postponements due to lockdown, the ex-RAF police dog handler got out of the blocks at the weekend to begin his exhausting mission. And, on Wednesday, he reached 300 ascents. “It’s going really well,” said the curate, Mr Bentley. “I’m trying to do about 80 a day and hopefully I’ll do the last 10 just before this week’s 10am Sunday service.