A MUSICAL play which aims to shed light on the final moments of Birkenhead's Everest mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine will be premiered later this year.

A rehearsed reading Ice Picks and Violets will take place at Spectacle, upstairs at Gallaghers' Pub in Woodside on Wednesday, April 8 ahead of its premiere in November.

It tells the tale of Mallory, who lived in Slatey Road, and Irvine, who lived in nearby Park Road South, who left for their fateful expedition from Woodside in 1924, never to return.

They were last sighted on June 8, 1924, only a few hundred yards from the summit of Everest.

Mystery still surrounds their disappearance and fierce debate rages as to whether they made the summit or not.

Ice Picks and Violets is written by Wirral songwriter Dean Johnson and will be narrated by iconic mountaineer Doug Scott, who as part of Chris Bonington's 1975 expedition was the first British climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

The mountain was conquered using the same route chosen by Mallory and Irvine.

Dean Johnson said: "I am so proud and excited to bring two more Wirral legends to the stage.

"That Doug Scott has agreed to narrate the show is such an honour. He has run the script past Irvine's niece, the writer Julie Summers, and she liked it and only suggested a few minor changes."

Ice Picks and Violets will preview on a national tour in September, ahead of its world premiere in November in aid of the Nepal Community Action Charity, which was set up by Doug Scott.

The charity aids education for the children of Nepal, and also secures better working conditions for Sherpas on Everest.

Dean Johnson continued: "Mallory and Irvine left from Woodside and would have stopped for a drink to toast their adventure.

"A lot of the pubs from the 1920s have gone, but I'm sure they would have popped into Gallaghers, even maybe for a haircut as well."

Tickets for the rehearsed reading of Ice Picks and Violets at Gallaghers on April  8, which starts at at 7.30pm, are from Spectacle@Gallaghers on 07539 371925 or email icepicksandviolets@gmail.com