Falkirk father and son to scale Kilimanjaro for Strathcarron Hospice

Kevin Beattie (52), from Carron, and son Ryan (25) will be setting off in a couple of week’s time to scale the famous 5895 metre tall African mountain – to put that in perspective for Falkirk folk, it's the equivalent of almost 200 Kelpies stacked on top of each other.

Back in 2018 Kevin lost his mum Jane Campbell to cancer at the age of 89.

This sad event proved to be the inspiration behind four years of fundraising which has now seen the dedicated band of family and friends coin in almost £40,000 for the Denny hospice, which needs to raise over £14,632 every day to keep its vital palliative care services running.

Kevin said: “My mum’s death devastated me. She spent her final week in Strathcarron Hospice and they were absolutely superb. When you witness what goes on at the hospice 24/7 you’ll understand.

“What really stands out to me is the love. From the front desk through to catering staff, there’s a continuity of love and that’s a special, special thing. After her funeral

myself and the family vowed we would always support Strathcarron no matter what.”

And, true to their word, Kevin and the family have done just that, holding events and taking part in challenges over the proceeding years, including 10Ks, marathons, half-marathons, fundraising 80s and 90s nights at the Beancross, an abseil down the Falkirk Wheel and lots more.

After receiving cash raised by the family from previous endeavours, Claire Macdonald, fundraiser at Strathcarron, said: “I am privileged to meet so many wonderful people in my role at the hospice and the lengths people go to in order to raise funds for our Hospice never fail to amaze me.”

The Kilimanjaro challenge is the family’s biggest challenge yet.

“It should have happened two years ago,” said Kevin. “We were so disappointed when it got cancelled because of COVID-19. Now we are just a couple of weeks away from going – I’m in the gym at 6.30am and Ryan’s out running, training up for it.

"We’ve climbed umpteen Munros in the run up to this and we’re going through to Glasgow University to use their sports science oxygen chamber to let us feel what its going to be like at the altitude we will be at on Kilimanjaro.

"It’s like being on a treadmill when you’ve had four pints of lager.”

Kevin’s wife of 28 years Annemarie will be keeping the home fires burning with younger son Kieran (19) while the intrepid trekkers are in Africa on their 10-day challenge.

Kevin said: "Everything we are doing is in my mum’s memory and we will do everything we can as a family to support Strathcarron. We just want to thank friends, family and work colleagues who have donated.

"We could never have reached the target without their help and support.”

Visit the website to donate or get more information.