Charity trek to Kilimanjaro smashes £8,500 target ahead of June’s challenge

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Derby’s Greg Brighouse has raised more than £8,500 for charity since signing up for the biggest challenge of his life – climbing Kilimanjaro in June.

And now the 37-year-old from Chaddesden, hopes to raise even more money for Cancer Research UK, while he continues his gruelling training programme in Derby.

He said: “On June 6, I’ll be at Heathrow Airport, meeting up with all the other people who have decided to do something amazing.

“Raising as much money as I can for this great charity is so important to me.

“Of course, it isn’t going to be easy making it to the summit and looking down on the earth – a mere 19,340 feet below me. But on the way up, I’ll be thinking about every single person who has helped me to smash my target.

“I think it will make me even more determined to make it to the top.”

Greg, a business development manager at Frame Fast UK, in Ascot Drive, Derby, started raising money for Cancer Research UK, last year.

He says too many people are losing too many loved ones to cancer and that’s when he started looking for a way to raise cash for a cancer charity.

When he came across the Mount Kilimanjaro volcano challenge to Tanzania in 2018, he was immediately interested. He signed up.

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Greg said: “I spoke with people who had already done it and it sounded amazing. It really got me thinking. Once I’d committed to the challenge, I’ve never looked back.

“Cancer is a terrible illness and I want to do my bit to help.”

Initially, Greg set himself a target of raising £10,000 – and he’s almost smashed it. Friends, family and business contacts have donated to his online charity appeal.

He says he has been overwhelmed by people’s generosity and says money is flooding in every day.

Greg said: “To date, nearly 100 people have donated on my Just Giving page. It has been very overwhelming. I’ve got more than £8,500 in the pot and I hope more will come in. I’d really like to reach the £10,000 target before I set off.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for their support. I never realised how many people would dig deep and donate.

“I genuinely can’t wait to go. I’ve been doing plenty of training walks, including Snowdon and Tryfan and I’m off to Ben Nevis in May.”

There’s still time to donate to Greg’s fundraising challenge, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gregory-brighouse

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