Kilimanjaro trek raises £115,000 for Strathcarron Hospice
A group of 19 trekkers has raised more than £115,000 for Strathcarron Hospice after climbing the world’s highest freestanding mountain.
The walkers returned from Tanzania recently having reached the peak of Kilimanjaro.
Team members spent five days trekking in challenging conditions and extreme temperatures before reaching the roof of Africa as the sun rose on September 26.
Claire Macdonald, who works as a fundraiser at the hospice, took part. She said:“Kilimanjaro was more challenging than I ever could have imagined and it certainly was not a holiday. To reach the final summit, we climbed for nine hours through the night, in the pitch black, with nothing but our head torches for light.
“We battled with extreme altitude sickness – many of us suffered severe headaches and were physically sick – and we had to contend with extreme temperatures too – even our water bottles froze.
“I think all that kept us going was the thought of the patients and families supported by the hospice. They too face incredibly difficult challenges on a daily basis, none of which they ask for. This challenge, for many of us, was a way to show our support and ensure that the hospice can continue to provide specialist care and support to local people when it is needed most.
“The team has now raised a phenomenal amount of money which supersedes all previous fundraising events and this will now pay for more than eight days of care across all of Strathcarron’s services.”
The trekkers were: Claire Macdonald, Adie Shepherd, Stuart Scott, Tom Chambers, Ashleigh Smith, Graham Chambers, Lorna Sellwood, Laura Connelly, Georgia Jenkins, Stephen Carr, Heather Love, George White, Bobby Arbuckle, Jamie Hislop, Andy Allen, Marianne Stewart, Julia Foster, Ken Maclean, and Alan Johnston.