Lottie

One of our CwCF children’s dad’s took part in the 3 Peaks Challenge and raised an enormous amount of money for us:

Back in December 2012, I decided enough was enough and it was time to do something for CWCF for a change. Our daughter Lottie was diagnosed with Leukaemia (A.L.L) back in 2006 and from the start, the team at CWCF were there to lend a hand and provide relief where they could.

So, what to do?
Sit in a bath of beans, run a marathon (not after seeing the state of Chris after his efforts). Instead, I decided to put a team together to take on the 3 Peaks Challenge.

If you’re not familiar with it, it involves climbing the three highest mountains in the UK, Ben Nevis (Scotland), Scafell Pike (England) & Snowdon (Wales) in 24 hours. After numerous requests and plenty of ‘Thanks for asking but you must be joking.’ responses, the final team of four climbers and 2 support team members was complete. Daryn Nicholson, Jake Gibbons, Jay Redmond, Nathan Jones & Steve Stroud were the unfortunates chosen to embark on a total of 27 miles of climbing and 500 miles driving in a single day.

June 28th 2013 was the chosen date to make the attempt. After a 10 hour drive to Fort William in the Scottish highlands, the team of climbers set off for the Ben Nevis summit at 3pm and the clock was ticking. 14 degrees and sunny at the bottom and -5 degrees, 42mph winds and icy at the summit meant that all manner of clothing and equipment needed to be carried up to cope with all conditions at all stages.

With Ben Nevis conquered in 6 hours, it was straight in the car for a 6 hour drive to the Peak District and on to Scafell Pike. Pitch black on arrival it was all out, head torches on and up you go. Whilst being the smallest of the 3 Peaks, this was by far the hardest. Broken and needing some TLC, we cracked Scafell Pike in 4 hours then once again we were back in the car for the 5 hour drive to Snowdon.

11am Saturday and we arrive at Snowdon. With no sleep in 30 hours and faced with another 4 hour climb, I think we were all secretly thinking the same thing..”Let’s get the train up, no-one will ever know”. With no-one brave enough to raise the subject of getting the train, the support team forced us out of the car and sped off to the comfort of a local hostelry for a warm cuppa. I had allowed myself to think that Snowdon was the easy climb knowing that I’d been up it as a child. Not the case when climbing with a heavy pack and the train firmly out of bounds however. That said, after a windy and wet climb, we were soon back in the car park having group hugs and all very grateful that the challenge was successfully completed.

While we were climbing, the support team had done an amazing job making sure that all forms of social media were being flooded with pleas for donations and when all the pennies had been counted, we had managed to raise £3,762 for CWCF which made all the pain worthwhile.