K2’s Fab Four Reach New Heights for Macmillan

While the tried and tested combination of flowers and chocolates preoccupied most people’s minds on Mother’s Day (26th March), four adventurous K2 employees were focused only on raising cash for Macmillan Cancer Relief Charity.

Forsaking the traditional Sunday lunch for a gruelling 3,010 ft climb up Tryfan in Snowdonia, four members of the conservatory systems specialist’s quote and design team trekked for four and a half hours to reach the summit in heavy rain and strong winds. Andy Smith, Chris Valentine, Ashley Shorrock and Darren Richardson raised more than £700 in sponsorship thanks to their efforts, and are already planning their next trip.

Explains Andy Smith: “The four of us have only been working together at K2 for about six months. To start with we just thought it would be fun to do some kind of team building exercise as the culture within the company is very much geared towards that kind of thing. As we got talking about it, we started to think about making it a charity fundraiser and, as three of us have first hand experience of the excellent work Macmillan does, we decided to show them our thanks by raising money for them.”

Remarkably, although Andy Smith has climbed Trfyan before, none of the four are experienced climbers and two of them had never attempted anything similar. However, they are already starting to make plans for their next charity climb, working their way towards reaching the summit of the other famous K2... perhaps!

Comments Managing Director of K2, Sally Fielding: “We always encourage our staff to get involved in charity initiatives and support them in whatever way we can – this time with sponsorship from both Directors and staff and lots of hearty congratulations when they returned to work on Monday morning. K2 tends to attract ‘can do’ go-getting personalities and I’m looking forward to finding out what Andy, Chris, Ashley and Darren opt for as their next challenge.”