Two parishioners from Holy Trinity Church, Southwell, England, recently became the first married couple ever to walk to the South Pole. Mike and Fiona Thornewill completed the 750 mile trek across ice encouraged by the prayers and support of their friends back home.

"It's very difficult to express what it's been like," said Mike. "The story is so big I don't know where to begin." The title of the book about their journey perhaps gives a clue - it's called "Heaven and Hell"!

The couple were applauded when they came to the front of their church to tell everyone about the trip. Fiona explained how they had nearly been forced to abandon the trek when Mike was suffering from an inflamed achilles tendon. "We knew our Christian belief was going to be tested through the trip," she said, " and we believe in the power of prayer even more now."

The couple had many stories of injuries clearing up when they knew people at home had been praying for them. Fiona told how she had prayed for two hours about Mike's tendon.

"I felt at the next break that I should put my hand on his achilles and that it would be OK," Fiona told the congregation. "I didn't say anything to Mike and then a little while later he said he had no pain. I just cried and told him what had happened. He said that is nothing more than a miracle."

On Christmas Day, members of Holy Trinity formed a human igloo at their morning service and prayed for Mike and Fiona. On the same day in Antarctica, the expedition team built a real igloo and held a communion service.

"We used high energy drink and crackers," Fiona explained. "It was a very moving service and it seemed exactly the right thing to do."

The expedition was undertaken partly in memory of Mike's father, who died of cancer, and aims to raise about £100,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.