FORMER St. Florence man, Steven Hughes, and colleague Ben Horton are getting set to take to the water for a charity challenge.

The two CRL Halesowen nightshift workers are kayaking the River Severn in aid of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

The challenge will cover 130 miles and will start next Tuesday, July 14, from Pool Quay, near Welshpool, and finish at Gloucester Lock at the start of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

The trip will take them five days and they will encounter such obstacles as rapids, weirs, locks and on the last day, the mighty Severn Bore, a tidal wave.

The trip is being funded by themselves and every penny raised will go to the charity.

Steven, the son of Lena and Des Hughes, of West View, St. Florence, has six-year-old twin sons, Dylan and Rhys, who is profoundly deaf.

Anyone who would like to sponsor the kayakers, can do so by contacting Lena and Des.