Story

<tt>Dear Sponsors!</tt> <tt>After weeks of beautiful weather, we were, of course, really looking forward to a pleasant country walk..... the Lake District weather, however, had other ideas! So whilst our families and friends back home were enjoying a pleasant sunny weekend, we were reading with some disbelief the Met Office hazard warnings including "storm force winds", "severe chill effect", "persistent fog leading to navigational difficulties", and "persistent and heavy rain". Their forecast turned out to be 100% accurate so we found ourselves walking straight into winds gusting at 70mph near the summit, then the cloud level dropped to below our planned route, reducing the visibility to "hand in front of face" at times so in the interests of safety (i.e. not falling off the cliffs), we had to revise our route to continue below the clouds which of course meant heavy rain. We finally completed our walk by late afternoon drenched and cold but thankfully all safe and sound. It was a bit more wild than we had expected, and I think looking back we did all enjoy it tremendously but over a well-earned pizza that evening we all agreed to perhaps pick a slightly less hilly route next time (Norfolk, here we come!)</tt> <tt>We would like to thank all our sponsors for their amazing generosity, we are truly delighted to have raised so much to help provide sustainable supplies of clean drinking water and safe sanitation for people less fortunate than ourselves.</tt> <tt>Thank you!</tt> <tt>The Pump Aiders.</tt>         On Saturday 21st May 2011, we are aiming to complete a charity walk in the Lake District ascending Red Pike, High Crag, Haystacks, Fleetwith Pike, and High Stile. It is a 12 mile route (19km) graded as strenuous and we expect to take around 8-9 hours to complete it as we'll be ascending over 3,500 feet (1,100m) which is the equivalent of walking up London’s famous Gherkin 6 times.     We would greatly appreciate your generous support in helping to raise money for Pump Aid, a charity that works to provide sustainable supplies of clean water and safer sanitation in areas that lack such basic human needs. To give you an idea:    £1 can provide someone sanitation for life  £10 gives a family of four clean water for life  £20 pays for all materials, tools and building an Elephant toilet.  £50 pays for a variety of fruit trees for a community of 250 people (and check out the website for where these get planted!!)  £150 pays for all materials, seeds and fertiliser for planting a nutrition garden providing a healthy source of food for a community of 250 people  £500 pays for the direct cost of installing an Elephant pump providing 250 people with clean water   Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.   So please dig deep and donate now.  Thank you!  The Pump Aiders    Andreas, David, David, Eliza, Harvey, Lucy, Lynne, Mandeep, Marius, Nigel, Richard.