Five women from Wandsworth have signed up to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise funds for the Walking With The Wounded charity.  Lucinda, Alice, Shona, Philippa and Anne will be climbing beside one of the wounded soldiers, witnessing first-hand how even the most horrific injuries can be overcome.
 
Says Lucinda:  “We all greatly admire Walking with the Wounded, which is why we signed up for the challenge.  I initially spotted the event on Facebook and posted to see if anyone else fancied doing it and was overwhelmed when the other girls all responded immediately with a 'yes'.”

Lucinda adds, “We could have spent this summer taking a little rest from our fundraising efforts for Walking With The Wounded having been involved with our sons' school fundraising which already exceeded £27,500, earning visits from Ed Parker and Jaco van Gass from the North Pole team.  Anne also ran the London marathon this year raising over £7,500!  Now we will be training for the challenge."
 
Paul Deakin of Private Expeditions, the high altitude trekking specialists organising the climb commented: “Kilimanjaro is a fantastic challenge. Although it requires no technical climbing it does need bucket loads of determination. Climbers joining this challenge will not just be tested themselves but will see first-hand how Our Wounded Soldiers overcome even their injuries. Walking With The Wounded do outstanding work both in the re-training and re-education of wounded servicemen and women with the aim of helping them find long term employment after they have left the Armed Forces.”
 
The Walking with the Wounded challenge to climb Kilimanjaro will be a 9 day trip departing on 26th September with seven days of climbing. They will climb via the Machame route, which offers excellent acclimatisation and as a result has the highest success rate. For more info go to
kilimanjarogirls.blogspot.co.uk/ www.privateexpeditions.co/kilimanjaro/kilimanjaro_walking_with_the_wounded.asp; walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/fundraising/kilimanjaro-challenge-2013/

July 12, 2013