Sir Chris Bonington will team up with his former climbing partner Doug Scott for the lecture

Two of Britain’s best known mountaineers will reunite to give a one-off lecture to help the volunteer teams that helped rescue people during last year’s floods in Cumbria.

Veteran climbers Sir Chris Bonington and Doug Scott will take to the stage on 1 February to recount tales of their adventures on Everest, K2 and the Ogre. The event, at Rheged near Penrith, has been organised by the Wainwright Society.

Both men live in the area and witnessed the full force of the storms and floods at first hand as the area was devastated by unprecedented torrents.

The pair said: “We are both in total agreement: the rain that fell that night was as ferocious and as scary as any monsoon we’d ever encountered in the Himalaya. Both of our homes lie at the foot of the northern fells and the area looked like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster disaster movie.”

The unpaid mountain rescue teams and Royal National Lifeboat Institution crews will benefit from the proceeds of the event.

Eric Robson, chair of the Wainwright Society, said: “Unpaid volunteers they may be, but their response was absolutely professional and their specialist knowledge critical to what was an immense crisis and a major rescue operation.”

Many of the MRTs face bills of thousands of pounds for equipment and vehicles damaged and lost while taking part in the flood rescue operation.

Both speakers are giving their time free and Rheged owners Westmorland have offered the use of the venue for the lecture evening for nothing. Sarah Dunning, Westmorland’s chief executive said: “What happened back in November could have been an absolute disaster for the county, but it’s amazing the way people have rallied round and got on with things.

“We’re proud to be a Cumbrian company and to do our bit to help and I can’t think of a better way of supporting Cumbria’s voluntary rescue teams than spending an evening listening to Chris and Doug.”

The men promise it will be a completely new lecture and, according to Sir Chris, ‘in truth, one we are unlikely to repeat’.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday. Bookings for the lecture, which starts at 8pm, can be made by phoning 01768 868 000 or logging on to the Rheged website.