SEVEN members of staff at Chapel Hair Salon in Tunbridge Wells will undertake a gruelling 24-Peak Challenge in the Lake District to raise money for charity.
The team will make their attempt, climbing 24 mountains in 24 hours – split into 12 hours over two days – on June 24 in a bid to raise £10,000 for Breast Cancer Kent.
Jimmy Goodwin, Chapel’s Marketing Coordinator, said: “The numbers are insane but it’s in the name of charity, specifically Breast Cancer Kent, which is an unrecognised and underfunded organisation that does the uncommon practice of looking after patients individually as well as aid research.”
The charity help people with breast cancer in the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust catchment area, and says: “We buy the things the NHS can’t buy: a specialist study day for the breast care nurses, a taxi for an elderly lady after a late evening clinic, a tomosynthesis scanning machine which will revolutionise the diagnosis of breast cancer.”
All the peaks are between 2,400ft and 3,208ft high, adding up to 31 ‘mountain miles’. It’s the equivalent of 52 horizontal miles, or the same as two marathons.
The team – five from the Tunbridge Wells branch and two from Sevenoaks – have been trained by Halina Nicholson-Smith of Ashdown Nordic, loca experts in Nordic walking.
Last year the Chapel staff raised over £63,000 for Cancer Research UK and the Pickering Cancer Drop-In Centre with their Cycle 4 Cancer challenge.
That first fundraising venture saw them ride from Verbier in the Swiss Alps to London – via Tunbridge Wells – over a 11-day period.
To find out more about their latest challenge or make a donation, visit 242424.co.uk
