MT KILIMANJARO Nov 2011 in aid of Parkinson's UK 
- in memory of my dad, Ian Richardson

UPDATE - on 10-11-11 @ 06:40 I reached the roof of Africa - what a way to spend my birthday! It was the toughest thing I've ever done both mentally and physically; only made possible with sheer determination, a beautiful sunrise and the support of all my fantastically generous friends. THANKYOU!

This all started with a flight to Tanzania with thoughts of relaxing in Zanzibar...but as Donna and I looked at the map and spotted Mt Kilimanjaro, standing at 5895m, we thought why not! As Sue likes to say, "...we're always doing things like marathons". Ok this is a bit more than a marathon and I'm sure it will be the most challenging thing either of us have ever done, but what the hey, we can look forward to relaxing on the beach afterwards, and we've never been shy of a challenge.

The internet makes it so easy to raise funds for charities that do wonderful work so it would have been rude not to reach out to all my lovely and amazing family, friends and colleagues and ask for any donations. However please note that our trip is entirely self funded so all monies raised go 100% towards Parkinson's UK and fighting this awful disease.

And why Parkinson's UK? Well my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's some years back. Sadly he died and there still is no cure, but maybe in 10 or 20 years there will be…who knows? Every hour someone in the UK is diagnosed with it, so that’s 24 new cases daily with 1 in 20 being under 40. So please, help me reach my target because I’m walking this mountain for my Dad and giving hope to those just recently diagnosed.

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 Parkinson's UK and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thank you so much

Kirsty x