I’ve just realised that I haven’t mentioned anything about how I got involved with Childreach. My boyfriend, David Milton, is the student fundraising manager for the charity. He organises the events and volunteers for every challenge event the charity offers i.e. climbing Kilimanjaro, cycling across Death Valley, hitch-hiking to Dublin etc.

Dave is going to be the group leader for the Everest base camp trek once we’re out there on our travels - the link between the porters/guides and us. (Just to clarify - Lucy, who I wrote about earlier, is the group leader for the Leeds group whilst we’re in Leeds).

To say that Dave likes to trek occasionally is an understatement; I reckon he is the most active, outward-bounds person I have ever come across!

Before I met him, I had always thought that the idea of doing something like climbing to Everest base camp was absurd, but his sheer enthusiasm for hiking is very inspiring, and also seeing the incredible photos of some of the place he’s been to has really motivated me to want to do it!