Cambridgeshire homebuilder celebrates fundraising employee reaching new heights

Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire is celebrating an employee that has put his best foot forward for charity.

Ben Allan (35), an Engineer at Barratt and David Wilson Homes, recently completed the trek up to base camp of Mount Everest in support of Little Miracles.

Little Miracles provides support and services to struggling families of children with disabilities in the Peterborough area.

Ben has managed to raise an impressive £2,539.00 so far for the charity, and will also receive £1,000 from The Barratt Foundation as part of its employee fund matching.

He said: “This was honestly the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I couldn’t think of a better cause to do it for.

“The climb itself isn’t too hard, the scenery is great, and you get a real appreciation for just how insanely beautiful and rugged the landscape is in Nepal.

“The trek took 12 days in total, and every day we were up at 6am for breakfast, followed by four to five hours of walking, mostly uphill or stairs, followed by a lunch stop then another five hours of walking.

“The most difficult thing to overcome is the lack of oxygen. It felt like I was constantly starved of oxygen and had to hyperventilate to breathe normally! It took three breaths to get the same oxygen as one breath at sea level, which is manageable during the day but made sleeping almost impossible!

“My main highlights were the scenery, rope bridge crossings - the highest of which was 160m - base camp itself due to its beautiful surroundings, and the general countryside on the walk. Nepal is a truly beautiful country, filled with friendly and helpful people.”

Little Miracles is Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire’s Charity of the Year, and the housebuilder has been helping the charity with work and fundraising throughout the last 12 months.

Georgia Handley at Little Miracles, said: “Little Miracles Charity is based almost entirely on voluntary donations. Fundraising events like Ben’s allow us to continue to be here for families who have children with disabilities, additional needs and life-limiting conditions, many of whom struggle both financially and emotionally to access the support they need in the community.

“We are incredibly grateful to Ben for choosing to support us and in awe of his fantastic achievement in climbing Everest! We look forward to working with him in the future.”

Will Phair, Sales Director at Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire, said: “We’re so proud of Ben and his team for taking on this incredible challenge. Climbing to base camp is no mean feat, and they all did an amazing job.

“Ben has managed to raise an amazing amount of money for Little Miracles, and we know the charity will really appreciate the efforts made.”

For more information about any developments in the county visit the websites at Barratt Homes in Cambridgeshire and David Wilson Homes in Cambridgeshire.