Past events

We couldn’t do what we do without the people who support us. Read about the events that have taken place to date and view our photo gallery.

 

AJ Bell Triathlon  23 July 2017

Attracting over 13,000 participants and 30,000 spectators each year, the AJ Bell Triathlon has become an iconic event  in the sporting calendar. This year was no different. With a variety of distances, routes and wave categories to choose from, Climb Any Mountain was ably represented by Julia and her team and we are very thankful to them for all the hard work they put in. We also want to say a big thank you to all who donated money and sponsored Julia and her team.

 

Taking on Cadair Idris  28 May  2017

On the 28th of May, a damp, foggy, bank holiday morning, ten Climb Any Mountain volunteers gathered at the base of south Snowdonia’s beautiful Cader Idris mountain wondering if, when we reached the top, we would be awarded with the views the mountain is so famous for.

 

At 10am, with a sprinkle of cold rain and low white cloud, it didn’t seem likely, but neither did it wane the enthusiasm of the group.

 

All of us were determined to give the mountain a go and raise awareness and funds to make a difference in the lives of those with intellectual disability and mental illness.  Read more about the event here.

 

Our Christmas Party held 1 December 2016

We held our Christmas party event at the lovely Belair House, London on 1 December 2016. It was a great event thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

The Christmas Party was a celebration, not only to mark the start of December and the festive season, but also to acknowledge the new and continuing support we have received from you, our supporters.

The evening kicked off at 7.30pm as our guests arrived to an evening of light music, warm food and drinks with as well as the wonderful ambience in Belair House.

Of course, the other reason for holding the event was to make this Christmas special for people living with intellectual disability and mental illness at the Pietermartizburg Mental Health Society in South Africa. we didn’t want to fundraise to provide Christmas gifts. Instead, we wanted to gift experiences – for many of us, these are normal everyday things that we take for granted, such as going to the cinema, learning to read and write or being able to swim.

The party also featured our Christmas shop stand where guests were able to purchase gift experiences, Christmas cards and lovely organic body care products that were kindly donated to us by Unlabelled Skincare.

Our founder Kim Danks gave a speech highlighting the current challenges faced by service providers in South Africa in the delivery of  care for individuals with intellectual disability and mental illness.

This was followed by a speech given by  Mike from Mencap.

Overall the evening was a huge success through the generosity of our friends, guests and supporters, we  raised £2,200 which will fund 94 gift experiences for people who seldom, if ever, get to venture out from an institution into their community. Click here to see the various gift experiences that have been gifted so far and the huge difference this will make will make to our friends in South Africa.

Thank you so much, we couldn’t have done this without you!

 

Our first Swap and Shop event

Climb Any Mountain held its first Swap and Shop event on October 20th 2016 and it was a great success! The event was kindly hosted on our behalf by Generous Spaces in West London.

The evening kicked off at 7pm and soon guests were arriving to see the various stands at the event. We had a wide range of beautiful clothing items generously donated by Deauxieme London as well as wonderful organic skincare products and exquisite candles donated by Natural Skincare Solutions. Arts was not left out, Phyllis Smith donated some of her brilliant art pieces which proved to be a great point of interest!

There was a glass of Prosecco, with finger food and delicious healthy bites, as guests went round swapping and buying. Soft back ground music set the great ambience for the evening!

It was surely a successful evening, all the profits generated go towards funding our project with the aim of  working with providers in South Africa to transform what is available for people living with mental illness and intellectual disability.

Climb Any Mountain would like to say a big thank you to you for attending the event and to all the volunteers who helped to  make the evening a huge success.  We could not have done it without  our generous donors as well as  Generous Spaces who hosted the event.

Thank you!

 

The London Marathon 2016

On the 24^th April 2016, Mark Crawford successfully completed the London Marathon.  The conditions were wintery, but Mark did brilliantly – running the full 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 6 minutes.

Mark raised £5700 – a true champion! Click here to see how Mark prepared for the event.

The money raised will be used to build capability within South Africa – transforming services from institutional to person-centred services.  We will be revisiting the Pietermaritzburg Mental Health Society to assess their progress 18 month’s on from our baseline assessment.  The next Mental Health Society to undergo our baseline assessment and year-long development programme is the Durban and Coastal Mental Health Society.  We commence work here in August 2016.  Last year this organisation reached 56 021 beneficiaries through their Social Work Programme, 7 Residential Care Centres, 9 Protective Training Workshops, and 9 Day Care Centres.  Bit by bit we are impacting the way that services are delivered within South Africa. So thank you very much to everyone who donated to support this event.  Your generosity truly makes a difference.

If you are interested in running the London Marathon in 2017 for Climb Any Mountain, please contact us.

 

TLC Gala Dinner and Auction 2013

In October 2013, Climb Any Mountain held their inaugural Gala Dinner and Auction to raise awareness and funds for the Transitional Living Centre initiative that will transform the services for people with intellectual disability and mental illness across South Africa.

At around 7.00pm on Friday the 25th October over one hundred and twenty guests descended on the Royal College of Surgeons in Holborn, London to take part in this glamorous evening to celebrate the progress we have made in this exciting project.

The evening started with a champagne drinks reception to the background music of Paul Lunga and his Township Jazz Band. With over forty amazing prizes donated for the auction, the guests had a chance to mingle and get a close up view of the various items they would be able to bid on throughout the evening.

At around 8.00pm the doors to the Edward Lumley Hall were opened and guests were invited to take their seats. The Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Mark Jeffery came to the front of the room to welcome everyone and set the tone for the evening ahead.

As the first course was served Climb Any Mountain’s founder Kim Danks (nee Crossman) took the stage to thank everyone for attending a share the context behind the evening’s event.  After a moving account of the personal journey behind her starting the charity she handed over to a representative from BidTech to explain interactive bidding process. With 3 iPads on each table, guests could immediately start to bid on the silent auction items. As the bids started to come in the results were projected on screen at the front of the room.

As everyone finished their main course Neil Danks, one of the Trustees took to the stage. Over the last 3 months a short film had been made on location in Pietermaritzburg to give our guests a chance to get related to the individuals that the evening was all about supporting. Once the film had ended our MC returned to the stage to introduce the next part of the evening’s entertainment. As well as the silent auction taking place Climb Any Mountain had reserved 6 top prizes to auction live on the night and our MC introduced our live auctioneer Ed Giddins to lead the next part of the night. As the desserts were served, the live auction began.

With the mix of incredible prizes, hilarious auctioneer and generous audience the live auction was a lively and engaging affair.  The Rolling Stones signed guitar and signed Mohammed Ali boxing glove were the top bids raising an incredible 5,000 pounds between them.

As the live auction was completed guests were informed they had 45 minutes remaining to bid before the end of the silent auction.

With the evening’s scheduled activities at an end, Kim Danks (nee Crossman) once again took to the stage to thank everyone for their contributions. The heads of each table were instructed to hand out the gifts they had been given at the start of the evening to the guests at their tables and the final total raised on the night was announced.

The Jazz Band continued to play and guests were invited to mingle, chat and dance the rest of the night away. The night itself was an overwhelming success with a grand total of 35,000 pounds raised once all the donations were totalled up.

Climb Any Mountain would like to thank everyone that donated a prize, volunteered on the night or attended as a guest for making this an extraordinary night.

 

 

CEB Charity Football Event August 14, 2013

On August 14, staff from two of CEB’s London offices (Holborn and Thames Ditton) took to the pitch for a football match to raise money for Climb Any Mountain. The two UK office locations are separated by 15 miles of city streets and countryside and have been finding ways to get to know one another over the past year. Staff from both offices found their first opportunity to spend time together during CEB’s Global Service Day in May. The CEB London office has built a tradition of hosting an inter-office football match every year, and this year the organizing committee saw an exciting opportunity to use the Spirit of Generosity to encourage networking and culture building between new colleagues in both offices. “Bringing together the CEB London team and our colleagues from the Thames Ditton office allowed us to have larger football teams for increased competition and also promoted camaraderie,” says Sonny Purewal, captain and lead organizer for the CEB London office.

With dozens of enthusiastic spectators rooting the teams on, the CEB Holborn team won the match 8-1. Following the game, the players and spectators wrapped up the event with a visit to a nearby pub for networking and to learn more about each other’s businesses.

The £725 raised will go towards the TLC project in Pietermaritzburg, the first of its kind residential facility being created in South Africa for 20 individuals with mental disability.

Trekkin’ Tahan 2013

At the end of 2012 Climb Any Mountain teamed up with a Singapore based social enterprise called Gone Adventurin’. Gone Adventurin’ creates and organizes adventures all around the world, to inspire lives and empower communities through the spirit of adventure.Climb Any Mountain and Gone Adventurin’ collaborated to put together an adventure in aid of Climb Any Mountain, which saw five brave individuals trek up Mount Tahan, the tallest peak in the peninsular Malaysia.

Pia from the Climb Any Mountain Team along with Jasmine, Krystle, Jeff, James and Ashwin all registered to participate in the Trekkin’ Tahan adventure in March 2013. Together they raised over £6000 which will go towards funding the Climb Any Mountain’s TLC project Climb Any Mountain is working on.

Click here to read the trekking team’s blog about their training efforts and the trek through the jungle.

Climb Mount Snowdon Event 2012

In 2012 the Climb Mount Snowdon Event was even bigger and even better than the year before!
In the end, 35 people, old and young, big and small, climbed to the peak of the mountain and joined in the challenge.

Click here to read about Barbara’s training efforts and the event itself.

The Crawford Girls Walk a 320km Trail Across the UK

In July 2012, Lily and her younger sisters, Eve and Juliet, walked Wainwright’s 320km/200 mile Coast to Coast trail in 15 days.  Accompanied by their parents, Mark and Laurel, the girls started at St Bees on the west coast of England and crossed three National Parks: the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors, before finishing at Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea.

The family averaged at about 21 km/13 miles a day.

Lily was born with Down’s syndrome but is an active and energetic 13 year old.  She swims with her school swim team and takes ballet and jazz classes, but sometimes struggles with more strenuous physical activities. Walking the equivalent of half a marathon every day for 15 days in a row was an incredible challenge for her!  Completing the Coast to Coast walk was a massive achievement for Lily and her sisters!

With the support of their friends and family they managed to raise over £5000.

The monies raised from the Crawford’s walk will go towards the Architectural Design Drawings for the facility Climb Any Mountain is building and producing the investor pack. This will put our organization into a position to take on raising the capital to begin the next phase of our development.

Cycling Qing Hai – Tibet Road

Climb Any Mountain Triathlon 2012

On the 26 May, 2012 a crew of merry men and women travelled to Nottingham to brave the challenge of completing their first-ever sprint triathlon!
Daniel, Neil, Kim, Jon (aka Big O YES Man!), Chloe, Richard, Siobhan, Carl and Harriet accepted the challenge and signed up for a full 12 week training programme which supported them as absolute beginners to become fully prepared triathletes before the big day.

All of the team members completed the race, with everyone finishing in times that exceeded their personal “mountains”.

In just 6 weeks, the team managed to raise over £3,500 for Climb Any Mountain. The money will go towards completing the due diligence and architectural master-plan for the first of its kind supported community care home for people with intellectual disability and mental illness in South Africa.

Most of the team had such a great time they are already planning their next triathlon! If you’re interested in joining them for round two, get in touch with us!
Click here to read Neil’s training blog.

Climb Mount Snowdon event 2011

Climb Any Mountain hosted its first ever fundraising event on 27 August, 2011. A group of 12 brave individuals climbed Mount Snowdon, Wales’ highest mountain, in the rain! The event raised £5000 and was a great fun. Click here to read more about the Climb Mount Snowdon event 2011