June 2007
After all the frantic activity in April, May was a much quieter month for us all. A lot of our ringing activity this past month has been at Beoley. They've had a couple of ringers in hospital recently - nothing serious but the sort of operation that prevents a man doing any heavy lifting - and a couple more on holiday and that's left them a little short-handed. They've been able to manage their regular ringing duties but have needed some help on practice nights and four or five of us have been going over there every Thursday evening.
Back here we've been collecting the money from Milton's efforts in the Stratford Marathon and it looks as though these have lifted the fund over the £10,000 mark. Our next event is the concert from the church choir but once again the Grapevine timetable has beaten me. The concert's tonight but so is the editor's deadline and I'm having to write this before I go up to help with the setting up. I'm sure it'll be a success but we'll tell you all about it next month.
Our next fund-raising event isn't in the village at all, Greg and Sian will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity later in the summer. They're taking part in a fund-raising expedition and have included the Bell Fund as one of the beneficiaries.
Kilimanjaro is 19,344 ft (5,895 m) high and is generally accepted as being the highest mountain in the world that can be walked up without the need for technical climbing techniques. Despite this, it's not going to be an easy walk. The mountain is nearly four miles high so they are in for a long walk from the tropical plains of East Africa to the snows on the summit. Kilimanjaro is also one of the highest volcanoes in the world. Although she was thought for some time to be extinct, recent studies suggest that she is merely dormant.
Greg and Sian will be ascending Mount Kilimanjaro in early August, approaching the mountain from the north by the Nale Moru(Rongai) route. The walk will be in aid of Cancer Research UK and the Alvechurch Bell Fund with any monies donated being split 50/50. More details next month and we're hoping to have pictures of their progress on the web site.