Martin's Mountain - moving forward

On 21 October, we held the Martin’s Mountain Afternoon Tea Reception, in the presence of our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal

The event took place at Fortnum and Mason in London, and was attended by supporters, sponsors, and team members from the Martin’s Mountain project. This was a fantastic opportunity to thank Martin’s Mountain supporters and sponsors, without whom the event would not be possible.

 

Our CEO Nik Hartley OBE, kicked off the event with a speech outlining the importance of the Martin’s Mountain project to us and spoke about how the pandemic has impacted the lives of people with a spinal cord injury in the UK. Martin then took to the floor, speaking from the heart about what the project means to him and how grateful he is for the support of those in attendance, and everyone who has seen, donated, or raised awareness of the project.

 

 

HRH The Princess Royal is a fantastic Patron of SIA, and her support of the project cannot be overstated. She took the time to speak with everyone in attendance and made a speech in which she spoke about the importance of the work undertaken by SIA and how impactful the Martin’s Mountain project will be on the charity and those it supports.

Here she is receiving a bouquet of flowers from star of #MY19 Cian Paton, son of Chris, specialist SCI and skin nurse, who is supporting Martin on the climb of Kilimanjaro.

 

 

Breaking news!

After the event Martin appeared on BBC Breakfast, where in breaking news, he announced that the climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro will be taking place on  2–12 June 2022. This is a huge milestone for the project, giving a tangible point on which to focus our efforts. Martin and the team are thrilled to be working towards this date after all the uncertainty faced during the pandemic.

 

 

During the interview Martin also released more breaking news. We have changed the equipment he will be using for the climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2022.

We are proud to announce that we have partnered with Mountain Trike, a UK based company that design equipment perfectly suited to the challenging terrain we will encounter!

I couldn’t be more pleased to be using the Mountain Trike for the climb of Kilimanjaro in June next year.. The chair is perfectly designed for the challenges we will face!

Martin explained: ‘I couldn’t be more pleased to be using the Mountain Trike for the climb of Kilimanjaro in June next year. My team used the trike on the recent West Highland Way training camp in Scotland, and it performed above and beyond what we could have ever expected. The chair is perfectly designed for the challenges we will face!’

 

Here is Karen Darke, our Ambassador and Gold Medal winning Paralympian, who used the Mountain Trike on the team’s training camp in Scotland when Martin was unable to attend after recovering from a serious infection.