We made it!

Our team at the windswept summit.

Dear Readers,

Thanks very much for your generous support for our climb, towing a wheelchair up Mount Snowdon on Saturday. It was pretty strenuous but we managed it up and down in 12 hours. Our team of ten included two people with disabilities, three people over (official) retirement age and two paramedics.

We were blessed with good weather. It did get progressively colder as we approached the summit - but there was very little rain.

The views were spectacular. We met some lovely people.

Thankfully there were no serious tumbles or scratches, and the wheelchair - specially designed by its owner David Bainbridge, who has a rare type of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), worked beautifully. David insisted on walking over some of the really rocky patches where it was difficult to maneuver the wheelchair. He was amazing. Our other disabled team member, Abi Bubb, who has a condition called Arthrogryposis, affecting her arms and legs - was a faster hiker than several of us.

We did this climb to raise funds for the Jubilee Sailing Trust, which runs the Tenacious, the only tall ship in the world adapted to take a mixed ability crew of people with disabilities and those abled-bodied. The ship is equipped with facilities to accommodate wheelchairs (even going up the mast) and a helm with audio, so blind people can navigate and steer.

The charity was in danger of closing after two years of Covid, but we are hoping that if we apply the same energy and teamwork used on the ship and our climb we will be able to raise enough funds to keep the Tenacious sailing on.

Our fundraiser is closed now but if you'd like to sign our petition see:

www.tenacious.org.uk/2024/01/19/sign-our-petition/