A Chesham man reunited seven of his family members from across Europe to help raise money for The Hospice of St Francis, who looked after his mother before her death in 2016.

‘The Nashers’ were led by 37-year-old Matti Nash, brought together his brothers, cousins, wives and girlfriends from as far afield as Holland and Denmark to take on the Mud Pack challenge.

The team in memory of Annie Holm-Nash, who spent the last two weeks of her life at the hospice ad have already raised over €1,600 so far.

Ashridge House hosted the challenging assault course, which had over 40 obstacles including a commando mud crawl, log carry and wading through muddy, cold water.

So far, the challenge has raised nearly £71,000 and counting towards the over £5m the Hospice needs every year to help people affected by life-limiting illnesses.

Matti said: ““We are local guys really and wanted to support the Hospice because of the outrageously good care they gave my mum in her final weeks.

“All the staff were very supportive, and my mother felt very loved and cared for till the end.

“We planned our family reunion around the kids’ half term and the Mud Pack Challenge which looked like great fun and really was.

“My cousin Robbie and his partner Hannah have done the Mud Pack Challenge four years’ running but it was a first for my brother Anders and his wife who came all the way from Copenhagen and my brother Bjarni who came from The Hague.

Matti’s cousin Robbie said: “Getting all our family and friends together was fantastic!

“It’s not often we all get an opportunity to do something together and it was a great was to remember Annie. The water slide was the most fun - we all did it twice if not three times! We all ran around together but had to work hard trying to keep up with Lisbeth.

Jon kept falling over - he blamed his trainers, but we blamed his balance! Alice kept us in check and was the lead pacemaker! Sometimes we had to wait for the others who were enjoying the mud too much but we all made sure we crossed the finish line together so we could celebrate properly.

“It was the wettest one ever but all the more amazing for it! It was such a laugh – we loved every minute and will definitely be back next year.”