In March of 2019 just before COVID-19 hit the world I attended a charity dinner where my good friend Mark Wood was speaking along with a group of ordinary guys who did the extraordinary called the Atlantic MAVERICKS, guys all over 50 who has just rowed across the full Atlantic for charity. During that night Mark Wood and I discussed Nepal, my involvement through Round Table and life. Mark said one day we will have to get you out to Base Camp Everest. Dial forward six months and the impact of Covid-19, i reached out to Mark and said let’s do this. From that point a plan started to hatch.

What if I could get together ten ordinary guys together who would join me on the extraordinary but at the same time have their own personal journey and story to tell and why they would want to do it. The idea of “Doing the Extraordinary” was born. October 2019 I started to reach out to guys who I believed would support such an idea snd knwo the journey would be a personal one to them. Without each other knowing I had managed to pull together The Base Camp Team for 2021 Trek.

In January 2020 - I invited all the participants onto a zoom call to meet each other. Since then the team have become an immovable object of determination.

The team started their training with the view we would trek Base Camp October 2021. Then in June 2021 disaster struck whilst training , not only did i damage my hip, I cracked it on top of Snowdonia. Within weeks I realised a major operation was going to take place, Everest was over for me. However I would still support the team from the sidelines. Then Covid19 struck again and the trek was cancelled, the guys were determined to make it happen and we agreed that we would move to October 2022. I had my full hip operation in late October 2021 and over the last four months have started my recovery to walk again, whilst the lads have carried on training to a high level.

Thinking that I would start my recoup January 2022 in readiness to focus on the journey of recovery I lost my mother to cancer, something I did not expect as it was so sudden.

It is now April, my recovery has been hindered, I am struggling with fitness and I am overweight through lack of physical exercise because of the operation and medication, but the determination to help others is un-wavered.

The lads have been a huge rock for my recovery and motivation, and have still kept me going, so from being the leader of the gang they have all become the leaders.

In 2016 I met an extraordinary man called Marcellues Baz-SwitchUp and together we started supporting each other’s projects and that support has continued over the years. What stuck me so positively about Switch Up was the fact it was helping the grass roots of our society, something that I am very passionate about especially being someone who grew up on a council estate in the 70s/80s with the determination of one parent, Mother Jones believed i could be anything i wanted to be in life, but only I could make it happen. 

I am determined to ensure that the belief I was given is passed onto the future generations of society, especially for those who are not given that fair opportunity because of where they live or they do not have access to opportunities because of social challenges.

This October “Ten Ordinary Guys will do the Extraordinary”, we will climb and trek to Base Camp Everest for two amazing organisations that help wellbeing, young people and simply put give hope to others.

Switch Up via www.marcellusbaz.com and the Frank Bruno Foundation via www.thefrankbrunofoundation.co.uk are the two organisations I have set out to support. During our trek we will also support the schools of Kathmandu, which have been devastated in recent years by earthquakes and COVID-19.

Between now and then I have to train, not only to get fit but also recover from a new hip operation and all of the challenges that have been part of the last six months. Through amazing friends of SwitchUp being Phil Ck - Impact Fitness,  and training with the “Doing Extraordinary Things Base Camp Team”, it starts today with only 177 days to go.

I also need your help, I want to help make a difference to so many lives, those who need our support and encouragement. Please donate to either of the causes or both? No matter how little you will be making a difference and at the same time helping my journey to achieve a trek over 126 miles up 5300ft high in altitude over twelve days.  

Young people, mental health, wellbeing and creating opportunities for those who are not granted the same open doors as others will be the target of this project.

I am continuing the story via our website:

www.DoingExtraordinaryThings.com/_person/marcusjoneseverest/

Today young people need our help and support, projects like SwitchUp under the guidance of Baz need funding.

Thank You!

Marcus Jones

www.DoingtheExtraordinary.com 

www.marcusjones.co.uk 

Find out more below about Switch Up and the campaign below.:

Nottingham ice skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have launched an urgent appeal for Switch Up.Things are getting very difficult for the vulnerable young people and their families who Switch Up supports - and for the wider community experiencing adverse effects across Nottinghamshire. Energy prices are rising, jobs are being lost, and the cut in Universal Credit is hitting families especially hard.We're seeing young people whose families are having to choose whether they go cold or hungry - whether they pay for heating or eating.And their mental health is suffering with the rise again of Covid and the threat of further lockdowns.With your support, Switch Up will help these vulnerable families in Nottingham city and county with food parcels, warm clothing, mental health support, mentoring and counselling.But we can only do this if we continue to receive donations from people like you. Please listen to the message in the video, and donate.