A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy from the Clynderwen area has raised £650 in a hair-raising abseil down Pembroke Castle in a bid to help fund a cure for rare disease Myositis.

Narberth CP School pupil Gregory Sutcliffe, who is on the autistic spectrum, took it upon himself to do the abseil on September 20, to raise money for Myositis UK.

In myositis, inflammation damages the fibres of a muscle, causing muscles to be weak by interfering with the ability of them to contract.

For Gregory, the charity has a personal connection as his gran, May Watts, suffers from the condition.

He has been raising funds through the Justgiving charity website, www.justgiving.com/GregorySutcliffe/

Gregory’s mum Isobel said: “He’s been going to the climbing club, The Overhang in Tenby, for a couple of weeks; he loves climbing.

“He heard that The Overhang was doing a charity abseil down the tower in Pembroke Castle (75ft) and felt it was something he could do.

“He chose Myositis UK because he felt his grandma was worse off than he was, and like so many other sufferers of Myositis, felt she deserved some support from him.

“I was quite happy to encourage him, he climbs everything, but everything with The Overhang so far had been indoors; I thought it would give him an idea of what it’s like climbing outdoors, and abseiling isn’t as bad as climbing.

“When he put his climbing gear on he did go a bit quiet; in his particular group he was the youngest and the first one down, but that made him even more determined; there were no problems at all.”

Gregory has even more ambitious hopes for the future, Isobel said.

“On the Thursday before he was asking about what it would be like to climb Mount Everest; we’re telling him he needs to climb a few other mountains first.”