The summer holidays saw a variety of imaginative charity initiatives from current Wellingtonians, raising funds and awareness for a wide range of causes.

In August, Elodie (L6 Hn) and Ophelia (L6 C) committed themselves to the Three Peaks Challenge, climbing the UK’s three tallest mountains – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in under 24 hours. They raised £2,000 in aid of Surfers Against Sewage (the girls are passionate about protecting the environment) and completed the course in 18 hours and 23 minutes. The harsh terrains, difficult weather conditions and a draining run through the night made their achievement all the more remarkable.

Elodie (L6 Hn) and Ophelia (L6 C)

Amelia (6 W) and Raph (6 W) set themselves the goal of running 200km in July for Médecins Sans Frontières and raised around £300 for this international charity. Raph commented: “We thought as we are both keen endurance runners it was not only a good challenge to push ourselves to the limit, but more importantly to try to help raise money for a very worthy cause, especially during these difficult times.”

The Stanley House charity is Autistica, and Sam and Cosmo (both 6 S) cycled from England to Switzerland, a journey of 850km over a variety of roads and terrains, in just 8 days. They raised £6,245 for the Stanley House charity in the process, but there is no truth in the rumour that they are planning on joining the Tour de France next year!

Sam and Cosmo (both 6 S)

Saskia (6 C), inspired by the work she had done with the WCPCI, set out to raise funds for Carercalais. She writes: “The ongoing world-wide refugee crisis is one of the most challenging humanitarian issues of our generation, and so I decided to try to provide some practical help. With winter just around the corner tents are needed for the refugees stranded in the Calais camps. By running 5k every day for 5 days I managed to raise over £1,000 which hopefully will go some way towards helping them.”

Saskia (6 C)

As The Master of Wellington College has said in the past, “those who have the most should do the most to help those less fortunate” so it is most pleasing to see these young Wellingtonians stretching themselves for the benefit of others. Congratulations to them all for being such fine embodiments of the Wellington values of kindness, courage and responsibility.