EveRRest 2022 - The quest for Base Camp!

Hi everyone! Ed and Vicki have been busy over the last month, fundraising and training for the big trek. First up, Edward has been adventuring in the snow. Here's an update from him: As some of you will know, we’re raising money for a local charity, Reuben’s Retreat, and taking on a trek to Everest base camp in four months. Doing some preparation by climbing a selection of the old county tops. After a break over the autumn, managed a trip up to Cumbria over the weekend and with a break in the weather on Sunday, took on Helvellyn. The weather was benign at the head of Thirlmere but definitely not benign on Helvellyn where it felt like being in a snow globe! As if the Everest Base Camp trek isn't a big enough challenge, Vicki has spent the last 6 months or so getting in shape and training for a marathon culminating in a very picturesque 22 miles in the Derbyshire Dales followed immediately by 4 miles of objection from her body for the previous 22 miles. She managed to finish it a...

With just over 6 months to go (new departure date and flights are confirmed for April 7th), we have had notification that Virgin Money Giving, the platform we were using for our fundraising, is closing at the end of November this year. This is a shame as it was a convenient way to fundraise but there is some good news: All the donations so far are safe and will be passed to Reuben's Retreat as planned so no need to worry and as always we remain very grateful to everyone who has supported us and Reuben's Retreat so far.  We have a brand new fundraising site on JustGiving. I know a lot of people are used to JustGiving as well so hopefully it will make it a bit easier for people to donate as well.  We have put the total raised so far as the 'offline total' on JustGiving. We are well over halfway to the target and still over 6 months to go until we set off.  Our flights are booked!  The new site is: https://www.justgiving.com/team/EveRRest22 It will ask you to choos...

A hard act to follow Vicki’s last, brilliant blog but a quick update from me, Edward, about preparations and Reuben’s Retreat.     Like Vicki, I also had the chance to visit Reuben’s Retreat earlier this year. I was amazed to see the scale of the project taken on by one family and how far along the road they are to creating a facility for  children with life limiting conditions and their families or those families who have tragically been bereaved . It was a lovely sunny day when we visited and with Howard Park adjacent to the old cottage hospital which is being converted, it does offer a brilliant location for the charity.   Anne and I have been working out way through some of the old county tops with the idea of climbing a selection of them that together will make up the height of Everest. It’s taking longer than we thought but we did start with Linco l nshire  (26ft!)  and Norfolk  which together only made up about 650 feet. We’ve moved on to more s...

First off, thank you so much to everyone who supported our prize draw either by donating prizes or buying tickets. We raised over £400 from it so thank you again especially to our prize donors: Anthony Collins Solicitors Jewson Builders Merchants Real Axe Bolton Stannah Stairlifts Studio 82  in Radcliffe Chrome Beauty & Skincare MoonGazy Holistics Zumba Astley Nice Work Run Ruth Bridges Jewellery   Grumpy Old Surfer Vicki's friends Helen Harrell and Baz Massey Last Thursday I got the chance to see what a difference the money so far is making to Reuben's Retreat with a tour round with the effervescent Becca. It really brought it home to me just what valuable work the charity carry out and the passion the team have for making a difference is overwhelming. From its beginnings in Nic's (Reuben's mummy) spare room, they now have a site on an old hospital once famous for being the place where L. S. Lowry saw out his final days. The Lodge is the completed part of the devel...

Hi everyone. We should have been setting off on our trip next week but we have some great news to share. Our wonderful travel agency over at Intrepid Travel have rearranged our trip for April next year so on April 7th we will be flying to Kathmandu to start the trek to Everest Base Camp on April 8th. We are excited to have the new date and also to announce our exciting Big Easter Prize Draw!  Thanks to the generosity of Bolton at Home's partners, local businesses and our friends we have many great prizes for our prize draw and all the money raised will go straight to Reuben's Retreat. Check out their websites as well to see what they offer.  £100 Love2Shop vouchers from Anthony Collins Solicitors Google Nest Mini (5 of them) from Jewson Builders Merchants Axe Throwing for 4 people from Real Axe Bolton £25 voucher for M&S (4 of them) from Stannah Stairlifts Vouchers for hairdressing from Studio 82 in Radcliffe £15 skincare voucher from Chrome Beauty & Skincare Voucher ...

Ho ho ho! We hope you have all had some benefit from the festive season. For everyone, 2020 has been a year of change. For some it has been dramatic and upsetting and for others it has brought disappointments and perhaps opportunities. We have a couple of updates to share as we take some time out from work to recharge our batteries and spend some time at home. Some more time at home that is.  First piece of news is really positive. Our Virgin Money Giving total currently stands at a huge £1,420! That's 30% of our overall target and we are so very grateful for every pledge of help. We have a couple of hundred pounds pledged as well that we are just figuring how to get on to the page so we are well on our way. We've had a big jump in sponsorship thanks largely to our corporate partners. Edward has reached out to them to let them know about our challenge and we have had a hugely positive response. A big thank you to: Mike Roche at Savilles Forbes Solicitors PJ Services, Bolton Ven...

Hi, Vicki here. Things have been pretty busy at work and also just with this whole global pandemic going on there is a lot of uncertainty so I wanted to give a little update on where we are up to.  I'm continuing with my marathon training despite a couple of hiccups, like it being cancelled and having a bit of a dodgy knee but I found another one to do and having some top notch advice on fixing my knee so hopefully I can still complete a marathon this year. Edward and I both live in Tier 3 areas of the UK so my plans to get some hikes in are going to be a little limited for a while and this could also scupper my marathon plans so I am turning my energies to the other, more important preparations for this trip and the reason we are doing it - raising a whole load of money for Reuben's Retreat.   Having joined the group later on than most I am quite a way behind the other fundraisers so time to have a think about how I can get support for this great charity. I'm hatching p...