Six year old Tom to Climb all 214 Wainrights for CAN
Tom Fryers, aged just six, is aiming to walk to the top of all of the Lake District’s 214 Wainwright Peaks by the end of this summer. Tom is doing this with his father Paul and together they are hoping to raise as much money as possible for the Cumbrian based charity Community Action Nepal and the Sheffield Hospitals’ Charitable Trust.
The idea for this incredible feat came rather naturally to the family as Tom’s grandparents live in the Lake District. Dad Paul explains, ‘We are up here quite a lot visiting Tom’s grandparents and so he has grown up walking in the Lake District from a young age - he climbed his first peak in 2005 when he was 3 and a half years old.’
Tom has loved climbing ever since and so far he has climbed just over three quarter’s of the fells listed in Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. If he succeeds in completing all 214 summits by the end of the year, he will be one of the youngest people to have achieved this.
Money raised from Tom’s climb will go to both Cumbrian based Community Action Nepal and to the Sheffield Hospitals' Charitable Trust. Paul explains the choice of the two charities, ‘Tom had a very traumatic start to his life. So we wanted to raise money for the Hospital’s charity to show our appreciation to all the staff who work there, but we also wanted to do something for people elsewhere in the world and given our connections with the mountains we immediately thought of Community Action Nepal.’
Community Action Nepal was set up by Doug Scott, the mountaineer who made the first British ascent of Mount Everest in 1975. The charity aims to provide schools, health posts and clean water supplies to the people of Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. The charity is based is based in Cumbria and has a long standing connection with the County and is supported by many local people.
Doug is hugely impressed by Tom’s efforts and recently commented ‘I’m just amazed by Tom, to do this at the age of six is just incredible – I’d better get a move on if I’m going to keep up with him.’
Tom is seeking sponsorship and the money raised will be split between Community Action Nepal and The Sheffield Hospitals Trust. Tom’s Dad Paul explained, ‘Sadly, Tom’s older sister Catherine was born prematurely in 2000 and died when she was only two days old. Part of the money raised from Tom’s climb will be given to the feto-maternal assessment and neonatal intensive care units in Sheffield to help other children and their families when they are in hospital and the other part will go to help children in Himalaya.’
Tom and his father are planning to complete most of the peaks in Tom’s summer holidays with any remainder summits completed before Christmas. Their progress can be followed on their online fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/tomfryers where donations can also be made to help Tom and Paul achieve their target of £1000.