KBB businesses raise £60k for children’s charity

A team of 24 walkers from kitchen and bathroom businesses conquered the Atlas Mountains in Africa, raising over £60k for a local children’s charity.

Mark Two Distribution’s managing director Nick Hopkinson MBE and Craig Rothwell, managing director of 20-20 Technologies joined staff from DRL and Scott Dawson Advertising to raise money for Bolton Lads and Girls club.

The group completed the five-day challenge through Africa’s highest icy peaks in extreme conditions which reached -27°C.

Nick Hopkinson said: “It’s amazing what you can do with 24 people who have never been up a mountain before but who care passionately about giving chances to young kids. We set a target to raise £50k to help change young people’s lives and ended up with nearly £70k.

“Spending seven days in cold, harsh and sometimes dangerous conditions helped raise this money to pay for mentoring of looked after children and young carers in Bolton. Most of the party had never been up a mountain in their lives before and here we were leading them up Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, 4200 metres high, in the winter, in snow and wearing crampons!"
He added: “The group dynamic was fantastic - we not only changed the lives of the young kids benefitting from mentoring, but we changed our own lives too.”

Bolton Lads and Girls Club works with vulnerable young people in some of the town’s most deprived areas, providing more than 3,500 young people every week with a safe, warm and fun place to go with plenty of support and activities.