Selwood reach new heights

A party of 10 from Selwood treks up Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of UK cancer charities

Motivated by the memory of former chairman, Kevin Bright, who lost a five-year battle with bowel cancer last year at the age of 51, a party of 10 from Selwood, which included Kevin’s wife Carole and their son Richard, set out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro on 22 September on a fund-raising campaign.

After five days of trekking in very mixed weather, ranging from extreme heat to extreme cold, as well as a day spent in the pouring rain, the party reached the peak of Kilimanjaro, 5,895m above sea level, on Tuesday 27 September.

Although appreciating that altitude could be a serious concern, managing director, Chris Garrett, commented that they had perhaps underestimated the difficulty of the trek itself, the impact that lack of sleep would have on the party and how difficult it would be to keep clean. It was with some relief when they finally arrived back at base camp and were able to enjoy a shower and a long cool drink.

2011 sees Selwood achieve their 65th year in business and to celebrate this the company has set itself the challenge of raising £65,000 to benefit UK cancer charities. This climb was only one of many initiatives held over the year to raise money and more fund-raising activities are planned with the target of £65K clearly in sight.