Meet the rugby league loving, childhood cancer survivor who is raising money for Dewsbury Celtic RLFC by climbing Mount Snowdon - with a tumble dryer on his back!

Dewsbury-born Tommy Dunford, who now lives in Horbury, set himself the unique challenge to help raise funds for Dewsbury Celtic RLFC, whose clubhouse is in “desperate need of renovation.”

The 32-year-old, who has been involved with the club since he was eight, told the Reporter Series:

“I saw a marine do something very similar with a mini fridge on a different mountain and it put the idea into my head a few years ago. I always wondered if I would be strong and fit enough to do something like that. It was a challenge.

“And then a month ago, when the idea of refurbishing and renovating the clubhouse came around, which it is in desperate need of, I put the idea across and it gained so much traction that I couldn’t pull out of it anymore!

“I started playing here at eight-years-old and I’m 32 now, nearly 33. It was dated when I first started playing and it hasn’t been touched since. The money the club makes goes on keeping the teams and the club going. Paying the referees, the coach journeys, the up-keep of the field, the playing kit, the food.

“There’s not much spare to renovate the clubhouse so that’s why we're doing something like this to keep it going.”

Before getting involved with the club, which is based on Park Parade in Westtown, Tommy was diagnosed with cancer when he was six-years-old and was told to stay away from rugby and contact sport altogether.

And although he had to have a kidney removed, as well as part of his diaphragm, the medical advice went “in one ear and out of the other” and played rugby with Celtic until last year when he retired after breaking his knee.

The father of three, whose children all train with the club, is now the coach of the under 8s.

Tommy revealed. “I was poorly from six to eight. It was two years of being in and out of hospital with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. My Mum knew one of the coaches at Celtic so she brought me up.

“Playing at eight wasn’t a problem. It was as I got older that the chances, and the impact, of injuries were more, especially the kidneys which are pretty vulnerable at the back. That was the main thing they didn’t want me to damage. And it does happen regularly in rugby, a tackle from the back. If I damaged those it would have been dialysis and major complications, which is why I got advised to never play it.

“But I just thought that I couldn’t not play. It never crossed my mind. As soon as the doctors say it, it’s in one ear and out of the other. It’s a little bit selfish.”

He added: “It was two years in hospital so I didn’t have many friends but as soon as I came up here I made loads of friends and I am still mates with them now.

“We have grown from kids running around to now going to each others’ weddings and the Christening of their kids.

“And now I am actually coaching the under 8s and coaching my mates’ kids as well as my own. It’s gone full circle.”

Training for the challenge, which is due to take place up Mount Snowdon on Sunday, June 23, has seen him receive quizzical comments from residents in Dewsbury and Horbury, where The Victoria pub is helping with sponsorship.

Tommy, a builder by trade, said: “I walked past The Vic the other day and one of the regulars came out and said, ‘Look, we have to know, you’ve walked past now a few times, what are you doing?’

“So I told him and they were amazed. They told me to bring some sponsor forms in as they couldn’t believe it.”

Tommy will be joined by a number of open age players from Dewsbury Celtic for next month’s charity trek, who will help with carrying water, food and a charity bucket up Wales’ highest mountain.

To sponsor Tommy’s fundraising efforts, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tommys-snowdon-dryer-challenge