I have pondered long and hard before setting up this page as I felt incredibly humbled by just how much was donated by my family, friends and colleagues when I climbed Kilimanjaro back in 2012. When I decided to take on the challenge of Everest Base Camp my original intent was not to do it to raise money for a charity as I didn’t want to “knock on” the same people’s doors once again as I felt it was far too soon.

Over the last couple of months as more people have become aware of my forthcoming trek I have regularly been asked if I am doing it for charity and my reply that I am not has been greeted with both surprise and a consensus that I should be. So that is why I have now decided to change my mind and set up this page.

Please note that I am not setting a target like I did for Kilimanjaro and I’m not expecting any large donations that so generously came my way for my previous challenge. Also all costs associated with the trip have been paid for by me and so every penny donated goes directly to the charity.

So a bit of a back story as to why I am doing this challenge………..

I am a Governor at Burscough Priory Science College and had the privilege to meet a man called Tim Oakes who was the Lancashire County Council adviser for the School. I was chatting to Tim on Monday 17 September 2012 after a meeting at the School and he was telling me about his forthcoming trek to Everest base camp and I was telling him about my forthcoming trip to Kilimanjaro.
I flew to Tanzania later that week and was privileged to summit Kilimanjaro on the morning of Thursday 27 September, which was the day before Tim was due to fly from Katmandu to Lukla. By late afternoon on Friday the 28 I was back down from Kili. and was enjoying a beer in my hotel and managed to get some Wi-Fi so downloaded my e-mails. Scanning through them as they came in I saw one with the title, “Tragic News” and sadly upon reading it I discovered Tim’s plane had crashed on takeoff from Katmandu and there were no survivors. Trekking to Everest base camp was a lifelong ambition of Tim’s and unfortunately he didn’t make it.

After climbing Kili. I said I would not be trekking up anymore mountains but that was until a mutual friend of Tim’s and mine, (Mike Forshaw), decided he wanted to undertake a challenge in 2014 to celebrate reaching his 60 birthday. Mike pestered me about going with him to Everest Base Camp in memory of Tim and in true “Steve Redgrave” fashion I eventually caved in and decided to go and do one more, (final), trek!.

We fly out from the UK on Monday 3 March and should reach base camp on Wednesday 12 March. We should, god willing, arrive back in the UK on Thursday 20 March.

One final thought, I support Beating Bowel Cancer in memory of Harry Turner a good friend and drinking buddy who unfortunately succumbed to this terrible disease.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.