How it began ……

Discussion about a Kilimanjaro expedition began all very innocently back in April 2009. A group of about 16 of us were doing a weekend’s walk in the Black Mountains.

The cunning plan was to start at Llantony Priory and walk along Offa’s Dyke, over Hay Bluff down into Hay-on-Wye and spend the night partaking of suitable refreshment. The next day we were to walk back to the cars at Llantony.

The plan worked very well. We had a great days’ walking. The sun was shining and walking up on top the Black mountains was extremely pleasant. In fact so pleasant that one of the walkers made a comment about the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

Another participant in the walk was Kevin Bounds (Chairman of the Church Fund Raising committee) and as we walked the conversation drifted into the fund raising activities and the amount of debt we had to pay off. We were discussing the need for a ‘grand spectacular’ when the comment on Kilimanjaro came back to me and I suggested walking up Kilimanjaro!

By the end of the 1st day we had a broad timescale in place and a slogan (which in the end we haven’t used) along the lines of ‘We have a mountain of debt so let’s climb a mountain’ :~)

We had an excellent evening in the pub with everyone and finished the walk the following day convince that the Kilimanjaro idea was not only viable but would attract the sort of support we needed to make a big dent in the debt.

Over the course of the next few months I began researching the walk, the costs and the interest. Several meetings (in the village pub of course) confirmed general interest and the nucleus of a team formed around Kha Koon (my wife), Kevin and myself. Chare Eickhoff was an early convert, his daughter having climbed Kilimanjaro that summer as part of a school organised event.

The final decision was when Kha Koon and I visited Westfields Shopping Centre in West London en route to visit friends. The Kathmandu shop there had a sale. Before we knew it we had two brand new, high end, walking jackets - suitable for Kilimanjaro you understand! That was it – decision made. We had to justify our purchase by going.