Scott Woodberry aged 35 of Rectory Road in Burnham and his friend Jon Picton and Uncle, Richard Tye climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2010 to raise vital funds for Weston Hospicecare.

Scott Woodberry aged 35 of Rectory Road in Burnham and his friend Jon Picton and Uncle, Richard Tye climbed Mount Killimanjaro in August 2010 to raise vital funds for Weston Hospicecare. They came into the Hospice last week to present their cheque to Gill Young (CEO at Weston Hospicecare) for an amazing �4,000.

Scott , a Director of ‘Woodberry Brothers and Haines’ in Highbridge which has over 250 staff members and has been in the family since 1949 set up a trust with his father Chris, sister Kim and brother Mark called The Christine Woodberry Memorial Trust or Petal as it’s now known when his Mum Christine passed away in April 2008 after losing her battle with ovarian cancer. Christine was a patient at Weston Hospicecare and Scott vowed to raise as much money as possible to help in the care, treatment and support of cancer patients and their families. Petal has so far raised over �32,000 through various events and challenges which has been distributed between Weston Hospicecare and other various charities that were close to Christine’s heart.

Scott says “We had been doing events over the last couple of years for Petal such as race nights, bungee jumps in New Zealand, sky dives and raffles but in 2010 we wanted to pull out all the stops and raise a large sum of money for the Hospice. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro involved over 6 months of training and a 9 day trek up the mountain, which, shall we just say, was the most exhilarating yet toughest thing that I think I ever done! To be honest I am still trying to find the words to describe it, I was hit pretty hard with altitude sickness and after day 2 was pretty much out of my comfort zone for the remaining 7 days. But during those days I felt that Mum was there pushing me on, if I didn’t have that then I am sure that I wouldn’t of made it. We raised �8,500 from the climb which is fantastic; it makes it all worth it!

“Petal (named after Dads pet name for Mum) is a registered charity and was set up when Mum passed away. The family wanted to give something back to the people that cared for Mum so well and also carry on her legacy of raising money for charity which she was so passionate about. Before she became ill she used to arrange all the Christmas lights in our road which became quite famous nationally due to the environmentally friendly bulbs that were used and have even featured on GMTV raising over �10,000. Every other year now I have vowed to do something different, something that challenges me as well as a lot of other smaller things in-between. I have sent in my application form to swim the channel which I am hoping to do in 2013 and we are also about to sign up for the Weston Hospicecare Zambezi Blast in September this year.

“Our whole family including Mum couldn’t praise Weston Hospicecare enough. Doing our small bit to help is a large part of our life now, to raise as much money as we can for those that helped Mum and ourselves through when Mum was ill.”

Scott, Jon and Richard came into the Hospice last week to present a cheque to Gill Young, Chief Executive of Weston Hospice for half of the amount raised of �4,000. The rest went to other charities close to the trusts heart.

Gill Young says “Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is such an amazing challenge and the amount that Scott and his team raised for Weston Hospicecare is just incredible. That money could pay for all the medication in our In-Patient Unit for nearly 6 months! We are looking forward to helping Scott with future challenges and are so grateful for Petals dedication to raising the vital funds needed for Weston Hospicecare.”

Weston Hospicecare cares for over 1300 patients and their families each year and in addition touches the hearts of so many more. The care provided to patients and their loved ones is completely free of charge. It costs �3 million to run the Hospice each year of which only 20% is funded by the NHS. We rely on fundraisers such as Scott and his family to help us raise the rest.

If you would like to consider doing your own challenge for Weston Hospicecare please call 01934 423960 where he can either help you to plan your own challenge or tell you more about The Zambezi Blast White Water Raft or the other challenge that the Hospice is arranging this year, Trek China.