Mt Kilimanjaro trek will be a late honeymoon for newly-wed Frome couple!

Charlotte and David in training.

A FROME couple are  putting the finishing touches to their training programme in readiness for a fundraising hike up Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania which doubles up as their honeymoon!

Charlotte Smith and her husband David, who married in July last year, had asked wedding guests to gift money instead of presents to fund the flights to the iconic mountain. They will leave the UK next month and will be trekking for 10 days.

Charlotte said, “I wonder if we’ll be thinking of the two weeks of sun and relaxation we could have had when we’re half way up the mountain! We also asked our friends and family to donate money to Dorothy House Hospice Care as part of our wedding gift and their support has been amazing; we’ve so far raised nearly £4,000!”

Charlotte chose Dorothy House in memory of Maggie Landry, the deputy head of Sutton Veny C of E Primary School where Charlotte works.

Maggie died last March whilst in the care of the Winsley-based hospice. Charlotte said, “Maggie was a very special teacher and I’m raising funds for Dorothy House Hospice, who cared for Maggie during her illness, on behalf of all the parents, children and staff at Sutton Veny who were fortunate enough to either know Maggie as a friend or colleague or as a kind, sporty teacher and inspiring deputy head.”

Fortunately Charlotte and David both love the outdoors, which has helped with their training. The pair have been biking and walking in Wales and before that, walked the South West Coastline for five days. More recently Charlotte has been running up Cley Hill near Sutton Veny, attending Pilates classes and playing hockey for Frome Ladies 2nd team.

Charlotte says her year 4 class is starting to get very excited about the trek. She said, “They can’t quite understand the enormity of the challenge or the mountain itself, but they are very excited by it. I’ve showed them pictures of it and when I explained that I was going to sleep on the mountain in a tent they were worried that I might fall off! They are very pleased that I am taking our class bear, Barnaby, with me!”

Charlotte says the school has been really supportive by helping with fundraising. The school council has helped run events including a ‘table top fundraiser’ that raised over £500. Later this month Charlotte and her colleagues will be doing some ‘bag packing’ at Waitrose in Warminster to raise extra funds.

You can help support Charlotte via her Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/CharlotteSmithSuttonVeny