INTERNATIONAL rock climber and former Appleby Grammar School boy Leo Houlding is returning to his home town to help raise funds for the new Community Sports Hall on Novemebr 17.

Leo, 23, began climbing at the age of ten, working his way through traditional routes in the Lake District, Peak District, Wales and Scotland.

By 1995 Leo was ready to take the climbing world by storm, scaling Lord of the Flies' on Dinas Cromlech in North Wales, one of the hardest routes in the country in the early 1980s. This was a phenomenal achievement for a 15-year-old but Leo (pictured left) had to go one step further and climb it at 2am with a failed headtorch! He then went on to climb Masters Wall at Cloggy (grade E7 6B) and gained the respect of many of the world's top climbers. Other successful routes include End of the Affair' at Curbar and Rare Lichen' at Gribin Face, both graded E8. In 1996 Leo became the British Junior Indoor Climbing Champion. He has since gone on to climb the world's most famous and difficult routes.

Leo is looking forward to returning to his home town. He said: "I've given the evening some thought and am thoroughly excited to be able to return to Appleby Grammar to spin some yarns and hopefully inspire some youths.

"I'll tailor the show to a non-climbing audience and will include some extra material not directly linked to climbing but more to experiencing the wonder of the world and action it has to offer. Travel, lifestyle, people and other activities will feature."