United Schools Federation
USF Three Peaks Challenge
Fundraising for Young Minds Trust
Story
**UPDATE 29/04/21**
As you may remember a group of staff members, including several Heads of School, were hoping to complete the Three Peaks Challenge last October. Due to the uncertainty during the planning stages and the increase in the number of Covid cases at the time, we had little choice but to postpone the event. However, we have good news! The challenge is not forgotten and our new target date is now May 27th. So far, we have raised an amazing £3,186 from kind donations but would like to raise more for the Young Minds mental health charity if we can...
See: https://youngminds.org.uk
As a reminder:
The National Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales, often within 24 hours.
The total walking distance is 23 miles (37km) and the total ascent is 3064 metres (10,052ft) - The total driving distance from Ben Nevis in Scotland, to Scafell Pike in England and then to Snowdon in Wales is 462 miles.
Our aim is to start the challenge on the 27th of May, driving to Fort William in Scotland. The 24hrs starts as soon as we leave the carpark, at the base of Ben Nevis. If all goes to plan, 24 (ish) hours later, we should have completed the challenge ending in the carpark at the base of Snowdon.
We will provide regular updates through our school Facebook pages, including photographs of the challenge as it happens.
If you are able to provide us with sponsorship
and, in so doing, support Young Minds, please use the link below or please pass on the link to others.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/usfthreepeaks
If we are unable to undertake the challenge as
a consequence of any new Government Restrictions, our plan will be to complete the challenge as soon as we are able.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards.
Martin Harding
Executive Headteacher
**UPDATE 13/10/2020**
As you may be aware, we were planning to do the Three Peaks Challenge this weekend. The team had trained hard over the summer and we even managed a day trip to climb Snowdon. Thank you to all those people who have made a contribution to the Young Minds charity, we have now raised over £2700.
With positive cases of Covid increasing and tighter restrictions in North Wales, Northwest England and Scotland, it no longer feels like the right time to undertake this challenge. We have therefore taken the decision to delay our attempt at the Three Peaks Challenge until 28th of May 2021, when hopefully the situation will have improved.
We are going to continue to raise money for the Young Minds Trust over the remainder of this academic year and the money raised, will be added to the JustGiving page. Thank you for your continued support and we will keep you updated about our plans to complete the challenge in the near future.
Kind regards.
Martin Harding
Exec Head USF
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Helping to promote positive mental health in people, but especially young people, is a main priority for all our schools. In addition to the work that we are doing to help support and promote the importance of mental health, the Leadership Team have decided to take on the Three Peaks Challenge as a way of fund raising for this worthy cause.
The National Three Peaks Challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales, often within 24 hours. The total walking distance is 23 miles (37km) and the total ascent is 3064 metres (10,052ft). The total driving distance from Ben Nevis in Scotland, to Scafell Pike in England and then to Snowdon in Wales is 462 miles.
During the summer, the participants have been training, walking on the moor and along the costal paths. At the end of the summer a number of us travelled up to Snowdon, leaving at 2.00 am to climb Snowdon and then returning home by 10.30 pm the same day. We have registered our attempt here: https://www.threepeakschallenge.net/237948/united-schools-federation
The following staff are taking part: Mr Arnold (Marldon), Mrs Harding (St Michael’s), Mr West (St Catherine’s), Miss Crathorne (Stokeinteignhead), Mr Clements (St Marys), Mr Randall (USF IT Manager) and Mr Clayden (USF Premises manager), Mrs Wiseman (Doddiscombsleigh) and myself. In addition to the walkers, we have two drivers, Mr Bozhilov and Mr Askew, (our caretakers) and support back at school from Mrs Arnold and Mrs Lacey.
Our aim is to start the challenge on the 16th of October, driving to Fort William in Scotland. The 24 hours starts as soon as we leave the carpark, at the base of Ben Nevis and if all goes to plan, 24 hours later we should have completed the challenge, arriving at the carpark at the base of Snowdon.
Our target is to raise £1800 for Young Minds, a UK leading charity that is committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people.
To further support the fundraising, we have plans to encourage the children to be active and take on their own challenges in school. If we are unable to undertake the challenge as a consequence of any new Government restrictions, our plan will be to complete it as soon as we are able.
Each school will be promoting the event over the coming weeks. We also intend to have a blog where photographs will be uploaded during the event.
We hope that you will feel able to support this challenge and more importantly, our ambition to raise £1800 for Young Minds.
Kind regards.
Martin Harding
Executive Headteacher