A ‘CLOSE-knit family’ who have supported each other through the tragic loss of a popular climber have managed to raise nearly £1,000 for a charity close to his heart.

Avid walker Philip Shaw died at 75 years old on September 24 and made it clear that he wanted all the money raised from his funeral to go directly to Woodhead Mountain Rescue, a charity he had a lot of respect for.

Countless ended up turning out to the funeral and raised £940 for the charity more than Philip, from Darfield, could have ever imagined.

His son, 52-year-old Marcus, told the Chronicle: “We’re a close-knit family so we’ve been helping each other out through everything.

“In his younger years my dad did a lot of walking, hill climbing and even tackled Snowdon and Ben Nevis.

“When he was out he’d see all the work mountain rescue teams were doing and when he found out they were charity fed wanted to support them.

“We were amazed at the amount of money raised so got in touch with them about handing it over and got a big cheque printed out.

“Everyone was so generous and there were a large group of extended family who came down from all over the country at the crematorium there weren’t enough seats so there were people standing all over the place.”