Steve plays peak-y blinder to help out charities
A former mayor has made a donation to two charities close to his heart following a mountainous challenge.
Councillor Steve Waltho MBE completed the challenge of climbing 25 peaks in the Lake District in 25 hours back in March to help raise funds for Russells Hall Hospital and the charity Access In Dudley.
The councillor, who was mayor of Dudley from 2015 to 2016, said he had taken on the challenge as part of a personal mission of his own.
He said: “The idea for the challenge came from a love of fell walking and was also part of completing the 214 Wainwright peaks in the Lake District.
“It’s a legendary target and I’d already done 90 of them before the challenge, so I was able to knock off another 25 to raise money for charity while I was there.”
Councillor Waltho said he had now completed 121 of the peaks, which were named after fell walker and illustrator Alfred Wainwright and which, apart from one, are all more than 1,000ft high.
Objective
He said: “I did the walks on four separate days, with an accumulated time of 25 hours for the lot, which is good going when you consider I’m 65.
"It’s always been an objective of mine to complete all these peaks, which includes Scafell Pike, and it also helps these two charities.”
The councillor for St Thomas made his presentation of the £1,700 raised to members of both charities, with both getting £850, having been unable to do the donation previously due to coronavirus restrictions.
He said the funds raised will help the children’s ward at Russells Hall to fund several parent beds for their rooms and help Access in Dudley to provide more vehicle support to people with disabilities in the borough.
He said: “It was certainly worth a bit of pain to help these charities and I hope I can inspire people to do something similar.
“I’d like to do more Lakeland peaks next year – and more Wainwrights – and, as part of it, hopefully raise some more money off the back of it.”
