What a weekend, all the hard work has paid off and the very first ‘Climb for Kendal’ was a success!

I have been planning the event for some time now, and it is the reason I have been so busy over the last month, every spare minute I have had has gone into organising and trying to get any sponsorship I can so the event could raise as much money for the mayors charities as possible.

By the way they are Manna House and a Kendal Youth Project – the latter will be launched in the New Year with the help of a group of Young Cumbria members, so watch that space.

Back to Saturday, the morning started quite well, I arrived on the Green at Beast Banks to put up a Gazebo which would cover the goody bags and drinks we gave to all the climbers only to find the cones the Police had left out the night before to secure space for the Gibson’s toilet unit and the famous sausage van ( another delight you must try if you get the chance) had been moved to one side to make way for cars to park. Not a good start but any way on I went, gazebo up , banners up, bags in place fruit kindly donated and delivered from Booths and Morrison’s, Asda had come up trumps, loads of drinks, chocs and goodies to keep us energised throughout the day.

Off I went on my first descent to the Bird cage, oh no, the base camp was still on the floor, the people trying to put it up apparently hadn’t put this one up before and were still trying to work it out – help were we ever going to get started?

10am loomed, groups of people came to register and were egar to get on, Dean Gibson School needed a table or two at the top, how was I going to get one for them? At this time I needed to start the climb. Somehow off we all went and from then on all went smoothly, Dean Gibson got their tables with thanks to Chris Mayho a Town Councillor who carried them one to the top from the Town Hall – I hope we counted his ascent! The base camp tent looked magnificent and created quite a stir next to the Kendal Mountain Rescue vehicle.

The atmosphere was great, lots of different groups came along to join in, Kendal Athletics, Judo, Gymnastics, staff from SLDC, connexions, scouts, the Town crier made at least 4 ascents fully equipped with his bell and scroll, a local solicitors (twp), the Kendal Fire Brigade all dressed in the various uniforms needed for any situation they may come across from the office worker to the full breathing apparatus suits, to name only a few.

The Helm Hill runners were amazing, they were renting themselves out to shoppers who didn’t fancy the climb themselves, so you could pay a sum of money and one of them would run up and down for you. The take up was great, one little 7year old managed 18 ascents, and another 8year old made it to 20. I was quite taken aback by their determination to help reach as many ascents as we could. The most ascents achieved were by Matthew Smith 14 years old, 33 was his total he was determined to keep going, Well-done to him.

I think the fastest 30 ascents were by Danny Parkinson; he came along and sped past all of us on numerous occasions. I took all day to complete 30; he managed his in a couple of hours!

It was really a fun packed day, the Kendal Judo club raised about £500 by carrying me up in a chair, the Kendal mountain rescue brought me down in a stretcher – giving me a chance to warm up a little it was a freezing day.

I really was overwhelmed with the help and determination of so many people.

So, how did we do? The target was 177 ascents to climb the equivalent height of Everest; we managed 1212, so we actually managed to climb Everest 6.84 in the one day. Not bad eh!

As for money raised, the total up to today is £3894.23, I think we will get to the £4000 when all the promised sponsors in.

All is left for me to say is a BIG BIG Thank You to ALL who came along and joined in, and to those who helped along the way and those who readily gave their cash in support of this mad idea and finally ‘ How far to the moon?!?’ – Next year in mind.