Ain’t no mountain high enough for Trafford fundraisers

Published by Anonymous for Trafford Housing Trust in Housing

Thursday 7th March 2013 - 1:08pm

Trusty Bear with children from Seymour Primary School and St Alphonsus Primary School at the event.

Forty local school children took charity fundraising to new heights on Wednesday (March 6), when they climbed Mt. Everest without ever leaving Trafford.

The Year 5 and 6 pupils from St Alphonsus Primary School and Seymour Park Primary School, both in OId Trafford, scaled the challenging climbing wall at Chill Factore no less than 885 times between them, to represent the 8,848 metre ascent to the peak of Everest.

The school children then sledged down the length of the mountain – by whizzing down Chill Factore’s snow slide a total of 340 times.

The towering feat was held to raise money for Comic Relief and will raise over £500 for the charity. The idea was conceived by Leon Pietrzak, Youth Involvement Officer for Trafford Housing Trust, the area’s social housing provider. Leon has been working closely with both local schools on a series of sporting activities made possible by Comic Relief funding.

He explained: “In the aftermath of the Olympics, Trafford Housing Trust was lucky enough to get funding from Comic Relief, in order to set up a mini sporting academy for local school children. The funding has paid for expert coaching in everything from volleyball to basketball.

“We came up with the challenge at Chill Factore to thank Comic Relief for their support. The children all did brilliantly well on a fun and challenging afternoon. Chill Factore was kind enough to provide all the facilities and staff for free, making this challenge possible.”

Morwenna Angove, Chief Executive at Chill Factore said: “We’re big supporters of Comic Relief, and the successful attempt to climb Everest in a single afternoon, and then sledge down the other side, is exactly the kind of towering fundraising effort that we like to support. We were right behind the school children every step of the way.”

This year’s Red Nose Day will be held on March 15. It marks the 25^th anniversary of Red Nose Day, which has raised more than £600 million, helping to change lives in the UK and in Africa.