The intrepid team of Katharine Begg, Mike Cumming, David Stobbs, Ian Findlay, Andy McGlynn, Andy Renwick and Mark Gallacher, with the reliable support crew of Jim Kelman, Colin Muir, David Russell and Tim Hale, rose to the challenge to conquer Stob Bahn in Scotland, Helvellyn in England and Snowdon in Wales in the space of 24 hours - and they did it with 43 minutes to spare!

However, their jubilation was touched with disappointment as they reached the foot of Snowdon on Sunday evening when team member David Stobbs realised he had left his camera - over 3,000 feet up on the summit!

As luck would have it, fellow three peaks challenger Barry Meakin from Thwaite in the Yorkshire Dales stumbled upon the camera on Monday, and using a bit of detective work managed to get in touch with the Forfar Dispatch in the hope of re-uniting the camera with it's owner.

Barry called our office on Tuesday to say he had had a quick look through some of the photographs and recognised the Rotary Club of Forfar banner.

His search over the website took him to the Forfar Dispatch website.

Barry explained: "I had a quick look through the photographs and there are some family events which I am sure the owner will not want to lose.

"There was also a Rotary Club banner and a Sightsavers banner. Although there was no mention of the Forfar Rotary Club on the national Rotary Club website, I came across the Forfar Dispatch website as it had carried a couple of stories on the local club and the Three Peaks Challenge.

"I had just completed the challenge of Ben Nevis, Scaffell Fell and Snowdon when I found the camera - it was like finding a needle in a haystack!"

Forfar Rotarian Ian Findlay was delighted to hear the lost camera had indeed been found as it included memorable photographs of the Rotarian's successful three peaks challenge which they completed in 23 hours and 17 minutes (which included ten hours of driving time).

Ian explained: "It was when we got back down to the car park that David realised he had left the camera at the top. It is just amazing that the camera has been found and by someone honest enough and willing to take the effort to find out who it belongs to."

The Forfar team was the only club in District 1010 participating in the Three Peaks Challenge, a challenge they successfully completed in 2006.

They started out at 4.40 p.m. on Saturday to scale Stob Bahn in the Nevis range.

Ian described the conditions as "cold, wet and windy" with the last third of the walk "not at all pleasant".

The team then headed to the Lake District for a 3 a.m. start for Helvellyn - but again the elements were against them.

Ian continued :"Sunday was horrendous. It was wet from the time we left the car park until we had completed about two thirds of the walk.

"There was a howling gale at the top, it was bitterly cold and the visibility was nil.

"We had hoped to see the sunrise but there was no chance of that, although the sun did come out for the last third of the walk."

There was no respite for the team as it was back into the support vehicle for the final journey to Snowdon which they started to scale mid-afternoon.

The Forfar Three Peaks' team, which included new member Andy McGlynn for 2008, raised around £2,800 through their efforts - and even beat their time from two years ago.

All the money raised goes to Sightsavers International in their work in preventing blindness or by bringing back sight to those in underdeveloped countries where a mere 50 pence worth of treatment brings a new dimension to the meaning of vision.