The Portsmouth Action Field Gun team are working hard for the Swartzkop challenge being held in South Africa.

In July the civilian group, made up of volunteers and former trainers from the Royal Tournament at Earls Court, will fly to Durban to take part in two military shows.

They will then travel to the spiritual home of the field gun, where during the Boer War in 1900 a brave team of men pulled the 12-pounder gun up a steep escarpment to surprise the enemy.

Peter Scott, a former commander trainer with the Royal Navy, will supervise a Portsmouth team in the KwaZula Natal province as they attempt to do the same thing.

The 65-year-old from Kingsley Road, Milton, Portsmouth, said: 'It's very hard to describe how much of a physical effort these guys will go through to pull the field gun up the hill.

'It weighs a ton and the escarpment is incredibly steep, but they will be using the same equipment as our forefathers did 100 years ago.'