Hi All,

Thank you for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page. Please read my short story below which details the challenge along with my personal reasons for undertaking the climb.

The challenge I am undertaking is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro (The tallest free-standing mountain on Earth). At 19,341 foot high, the thin air, low temperatures (-30 degrees) and high winds make this a difficult and dangerous 8 day trek. Altitude sickness, hypothermia and rock slides are all real dangers on Kilimanjaro. 

I will be leaving the UK on November 30th, starting my climb on December 2nd and will be looking to reach the summit (Uhuru Peak) in the early hours of December 6th following a gruelling 5 days of trekking /climbing. I will then begin the 2 day descent, returning to the hotel on 8th December, leaving there on the 9th to return to the UK on December 10th, no doubt entirely exhausted!

Why I am doing this climb for the hospice...........

My Grandfather, Gordon Laurie was a "founding father" of the childrens hospice at Milton in Cambridge, which offers support to children and young people with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions both in the hospice and at their homes. Further details at http://www.each.org.uk/

Gordon oversaw fundraising of £3.5million for the hospice over a period of 8 years as Chairman of the Haven Appeal, always fully supported by my Grandma, Joy Laurie.

Gordon was involved in the project for several years before it was opened by Princess Diana in 1989. The Milton hospice is now part of the East Anglian Childrens Hospices group which operates throughout East Anglia and their Royal Patron is now HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.

Sadly Gordon passed away a few years ago on October 8th 2008, aged 87. Much more recently on 5th January 2015, Joy passed away following a very short illness aged 90, which has left us all feeling very sad and empty, however it does mean Joy and Gordon are now together again, this time forever.

Gordon and Joy were not just brilliant grandparents to me, who I already do and always will miss very dearly, but they were also both very inspirational characters from whom I learnt a lot, not just about how to behave and grow up appropriately (which some of you may question)! But they also taught me a lot about giving back. Not necessarily knowlingly so, but I paid attention growing up and understood the things they both did for charity and it has taught me a lot.

The work which was done for the hospice is something they were both extremely proud of and rightly so. I now feel it is my time to give something back and hopefully make a reasonable contribution towards the hospices efforts in supporting the people they do. Any donations I raise will be made in honour of Joy and Gordon and I hope will not only raise much needed funds for the hospice but will also raise their profile locally and help assist with continued fundrainsing efforts moving forwards.

All monies raised through this just giving page will be going directly to the childrens hospice. My employer "NWES Enterprise Services" have assisted me in making this climb happen and I am very thankful for their support. http://www.nwes.org.uk/

Alongwith their support and some self funding, all costs for the climb are covered and therefore all donations go directly to the charity itself.

So, what I am asking you for is to support my climb by donating as much as you feel you can, be it £2 or £200, it all adds up and will be massively appreciated. The challenge I am undertaking is to climb the tallest free standing mountain on earth, Mt Killimanjaro and if I can go there knowing I have met my £10k target, it will hopefully give me the inspiration to push as hard as I can to reach the summit and complete this challenge to raise funds for the childrens hospice.

So please, dig deep and do what you can to support me here, it wont be easy but I will reach the top! Hopefully your support will help get me there!

Thanks, I really do appreciate any help you can give.

Edd