Ready to go again? The new Challenge...

Hi there,

You're receiving this because you were one of the faithful ones that signed up for my Pennine Way blog last year - and hopefully followed, from the comfort of your homes, my journey north through the stunning uplands (and bogs) of England and on into the Scottish Borders raising funds as we celebrated the first 10 years of In2Out. And so I wanted you to be amongst the first to hear of my next challenge.

However, if you don't want to go through all that again and would rather sit this one out, then please do unsubscribe. All I'll say to encourage you to stay is...there'll hopefully be some more beautiful scenery, tales of overcoming challenges and probably some more suffering on my part. Oh and some of it will be in the dark!!

If you're still here - thank you!

Before you ask, I'm not trekking across Antarctica in winter or climbing Everest at night - it's a bit easier than that, but still a challenge and one which again I'm doing to raise much needed funds to support the work of In2Out as we mentor young people as they leave prison and return specifically to communities across the Midlands of England.

So what is it? On Tuesday 24th June 2025, I, and a small (some would say, elite) group of highly trained athletes (otherwise called friends and family) will attempt to climb the 3 highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales respectively in 24 hours. That's Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa. In and of itself you might be thinking, "That's not so hard - I've done all those". The problem is that there is roughly 460 miles between them all. (And before anyone gets any ideas - I'M NOT WALKING THAT!) What 460 miles is though is over 11 hours of driving. And so that, and the 23+ miles of hiking and 3000 metres of ascent, eating and drinking and maybe a bit of resting, all has to be crammed into those 24 hours. Apparently only 40% of people who attempt this succeed! And at the moment (I won't speak for the others) I can say I'm not feeling very elite! But I do like a challenge. ;-)

But of course it's about more than just liking a challenge. It's about drawing attention to and raising support so that In2Out can offer help to more young people leaving prison, and specifically those returning to the Midlands. Over the last couple of years we've started to make inroads into the region and been able to support around 15 lads from there. But there are so many more young people leaving HMYOI Wetherby who need our support. More than that we want to be able to offer our services to lads in HMYOI Werrington, near Stoke-on-Trent, the majority of whom are returning to the Midlands.

The cities of Birmingham in the west, as well as Nottingham in the east, have significant problems with gangs that are bringing drugs, exploitation and violence to those communities and wrecking the lives of the young people who are being sucked in. Without the right support, encouragement and resources the chances of a young person leaving prison not being drawn back into this world are really slim. But we know that having a mentor who will stick with them and support them on their journey can make all the difference and offer them hope for a better future.

The exciting thing about this fundraiser is that the first £10,000 of all the donations that we receive between midday on Monday 23rd June and midday on Monday 30th June will be DOUBLED via The Big Give, a mechanism many of you will be familiar with from our annual Christmas fundraising campaign.

So, I hope you are IN...that you will follow some of the preparations, the challenge itself, and somewhere along the way hopefully we'll raise a load of money that will provide the support that literally changes young lives.

(Start of the Ben Nevis Mountain Path)