Climbing Kilimanjaro for Sponsorship

Click here to read the Kilamanjaro diary here.

“I was born in London in 1946. My father had joined the RAF from University and spent the last few months of the war working with Sir Winston Churchill in the Cabinet War Rooms deep underground. Alert visitors to the Cabinet War Rooms can still see his name on an organisation chart still pinned to a door. He remained in the RAF for his career, retiring as an Air Vice Marshall. A posting to the NATO base at Fontainbleau, near Paris meant I spent some very enjoyable holidays there but regretfully it did nothing to improve my French.

I completed my education at Stowe, certainly one of the most beautiful places of education to be found anywhere in the world. Old Stoics who have made their mark on the world include David Niven (whose auto- biography The Moon's a Balloon remains one of the funniest books I have ever read) and Richard Branson whose entrepreneurial flair has made his Virgin brand recognised around the world.

I started work with Sedgwick as an insurance broker placing risks at Lloyds in London but after 18 months the realisation came that if I wanted to see the world I had better get on with it. Within a few weeks I was on the Edinburgh Castle bound for Cape Town with an outline plan to move to Australia after a year and then on to the USA.

I landed in Cape Town in May 1967, 20 years old with no job and a few contact names but was lucky to find work at Price Forbes, then South Africa's largest insurance broker, within a few days.

Cape Town proved a hard place to leave and the plan for going on to Australia and the USA faded away as I met Vivien, married, bought a house and Guy and Luke were born. After 13 wonderful years in Cape Town it was time to leave. Price Forbes had merged with my original employer in London and so I was able to transfer back to Sedgwick in London. After a few years I joined the board of Sedgwick London Ltd and following a merger with Marsh & McLennan became a Managing Director at Marsh. I retired 4 years ago but continue to work at Marsh with a reduced workload that allows me time to travel and spend a few months each year at our apartment in Cape Town.

Retirement has given me the opportunity to do different things and so last year I trekked for 16 days around Annapurna in the Himalayas, climbing to 4000m. I found that an exhilarating and challenging experience and so looked for the next challenge. Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa and almost 2000m higher than I reached around Annapurna. Those extra 2000m will be the challenge with only 20% of the oxygen we enjoy in Cape Town every step above 4000m will be a challenge in itself. Temperatures can drop to -20c at the top of Kilimanjaro and we will be sleeping in tents along the way. Fitness is no guarantee of success in overcoming altitude sickness but we are taking the harder but slower Machame route which gives us longer to adjust to the altitude.

I have persuaded my sons Guy and Luke to join me on this adventure along with Guy's partner Keith. Their job is to push me up when the going gets tough!

Vivien and I were introduced to the Trust by Ed Chantler and are enthusiastic supporters of its aims and objectives. We know that with more contributions the Trust can give opportunities to more young South Africans and so I am looking for sponsorship for this challenging climb for the benefit of the Trust.”