BURY CE High School's very own "ice maiden" is proving a cool customer when it comes to raising funds for a cancer charity.

For while the rest of us look forward to a hot long summer, deputy headteacher Ms Fiona Guiver is preparing to undertake a freezing fund-raising ice cap trek in Iceland.

And thanks to the kindness of staff and colleagues, she has already raised the £1,800 target sum required by the Macmillan Cancer Relief, which is staging the sponsored Icelandic trek.

The money was collected thanks to a variety of activities including sponsored silences, discos, dress-down days and selling biscuits and roses on Valentine's Day. Not for the faint-hearted, the week-long event in August involves rough camping and a gruelling 100-kilometre trek across desert and between ice caps.

Ms Guiver was born and raised in Bury and returned to the town last September to take up the deputy headteacher appointment at the high school.

Commenting on her forthcoming Icelandic adventure, she said: "I decided to take part due to a combination of circumstances.

"I'm involved in our school charity group and saw the flyer for the ice cap trek. I thought to myself that this was my kind of thing.

"But what started off as a joke then became serious," she added.

Ms Guiver has undertaken mountain treks before but expects her latest expedition to be far more inhospitable, especially given the prospect of sub-zero temperatures at night.

Apart from raising the necessary £1,800 to take part, the deputy head has also collected an additional £300 in sponsorship.

She is still looking for sponsors. Anyone who would like to sponsor her should contact Bury CE High School on 797 6236.