CLIMBERS braved April showers to carry a grand piano 300 metres to a viewing point overlooking Windermere as part of an April Fool's Day fundraiser.

Classical pianist Robert Richmond then performed a magical open air concert at the Claife Heights Viewing Station, sheltered under a gazebo.

The eccentric stunt was to raise funds for the Coniston and Lochaber Mountain Rescue Teams, in memory of two hikers who were killed in an avalanche on Ben Nevis on Valentine’s Day 2016.

Lochaber Mountain Rescue spent five weeks searching for the bodies of Tim Newton, 27, and Rachel Slater, 24, from the Bradford area of West Yorkshire, and cared for their grieving parents.

Mr Richmond's son, Michael, was a friend of Rachel and Tim who died when they were hit by an avalanche that is believed to have come out of the Observatory Gully. He helped to carry the piano with fellow climbers, former of the University of Manchester climbing club of which Rachel and Tim were members.

"Rachel would have been easily the first person to volunteer for this," Michael said. "Whenever we were at university, any time I put on some form of competition or challenge there was usually only one person who always got involved, and that was Rachel - so I know she would have loved the event."

Rachel’s parents, Nigel and Rosemary Slater, who live in Canada, were fully behind the venture and e-mailed Michael describing it as 'a wonderful idea and a beautiful way to honour Rachel and Tim'.

The grand piano received expert attention from the team’s tuner, Marianne Bailey of Out Rawcliffe, on the Fylde, Lancashire.

"What a challenge for a piano technician," she said. "I've been working with pianos for over 30 years but this is definitely a first - and probably the last!"

She explained that the main reasons pianos go out of tune is changes in humidity and being moved but she was able to ensure the instrument was in peak condition for the afternoon performance.

Robert, from Knott End, Lancashire, played arrangements of pieces by Ravel and Shostakovitch, Rachmaninoff’s popular Piano Concerto No. 2, 'Venus' by Gustav Holst and Ennio Morricone’s ‘Cinema Paradiso’ while film clips were projected to complement them.

"It's a one off, I've never done it before," he said, of playing in the unusual outdoor location. "This is ideal. There's room for people to stand and there's beautiful views."

Peter Brown, Rachel's uncle, was in attendance and said that the music was so good it was 'worth standing out in the rain for'.

Donations to the Lochaber and Coniston Mountain Rescue Teams in memory of Rachel Newton and Tim Slater can be made on http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/anaprilfolly