Challenge boosts school fund

9:00am Sunday 30th December 2007

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PUPILS at a school for children with special needs are a step closer to getting a brand new hydrotherapy pool after a twelve-strong team of local businessmen braved appalling' weather to take on the Three Peaks Challenge.

Team leaders Mike Locke and Mike Wibrew, both 49, presented Maplewood School in Downley with a £13,000 cheque for the appeal, which is now nearing its target of more than £1m.

John Rumble, headteacher at the school in Faulkner Way, said: "It was pretty awesome. It's a significant chunk of money to put into the project."

The Three Peaks Challenge, which involves scaling Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in under 24 hours, is tough at the best of times, but the twelve-strong team had to contend with the worst of Britain's weather when they took on the peaks on June 23 - the same weekend that towns across Britain were submerged after torrential rain.

Team member Ian Horler, who runs Excel Office Supplies in West Wycombe Road, said: "We completed the challenge in 23 hours 35 minutes which was exceptional given the conditions - that was even allowing for an unscheduled stop to buy dry clothes as every item of kit we had was soaked through."

Mr Locke said: "The rain was whipping horizontally. It was really bad by the end - normally Snowdon is crowded but we only saw two other people the whole time."

Most of the team were mountaineering novices when they began training for the ambitious challenge.

The two Mikes, who both work as managers for Barclays, arranged fundraising across seven bank branches, with Barclays' pound for pound Community Scheme matching the donations.

Mr Locke, from Holmer Green, said: "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Hopefully someone else will take up the baton now for the appeal - it's a really worthwhile cause."

The appeal will pay for a ten by six metre on-site pool, which will help Maplewood School's 60 pupils to learn to become more physically independent, and will also be used by the local community and disability groups.

The school, which caters for pupils with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, launched the appeal five years ago. Despite the estimate for the work doubling in that period, the school is close to achieving its goal after Buckinghamshire County Council pledged £600,000 in June.

Mr Rumble said the school would soon be in a position to start the work, which should be completed within two years.