ONE woman has been aiming high to help raise money for Cats Protection Taunton & Wellington.

Ceridwen Rayson has put herself through challenges from a hike through the Alps to abseiling down the highest waterfall in the UK - raising over £2,000 for the charity.

After always having cats as pets, Ceridwen, 41, decided she wanted to give something back by helping the Taunton and Wellington branch of the cat charity in raising money for the vital work they do.

She said: “There are many charities out there and I often wonder if animal charities can sometimes perhaps be overlooked, so given the love that cats have given me over the years, I wanted to give something back.

“I can still remember visiting my local branch of Cats Protection many years ago to see if one of their rescue cats could be our new family companion and how kind the lady was as she knew how upset I had been at the death of our previous cat.

“Cats can be so comforting and such good company as they choose when they want to be with you.”

Ceridwen describes the Alps hike challenge as ‘choosing her’, after she saw it advertised on social media - but wasn’t prepared for how “gruelling” it would be.

She said: “I felt if I am to be raising money and asking people to sponsor me, I needed to be doing something worthy of their support.

“However, until day one of the hike, I was rather unaware of how gruelling a task climbing those mountains would be!

“They made our local hills look like mole hills!”

Following the Alps adventure, Ceridwen aimed even higher - planning to abseil down the highest waterfall in the UK - Canonteign Falls, which is 200 feet high.

Ceridwen said: “I had never done anything like that before, I had no rock climbing experience,but thought I’m going to have a go and it’s for the cats.

“It certainly was an experience I shall never forget, especially that first step off of the edge of the rock face.”

Ceridwen has now raised £2,200 and is close to hitting her target of £2,500. She says it would be ‘super’ to hit her target before the end of the year, after really “pushing herself out of her comfort zone” to take on the challenges.

She said: “With life, there will always be times when we are afraid of our own capabilities, especially as we get older.

“It is at those times that we must push through to show ourselves what we can really achieve.”