Ray shares why he's hiking to the summit of Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa
to fundraise for Child Bereavement UK.

The support from Child Bereavement UK was an absolute godsend and I will be forever grateful to the charity which is why I am taking on this challenge to raise money for an incredible organisation.  

I am raising funds for Child Bereavement UK this year by hiking to the summit of Snowdon/Yr Wydda, the highest mountain in Wales, taking the Llanberis Path to the top. 

I was inspired to raise funds for Child Bereavement UK because of the support my boys received from the charity after they lost their mother to cancer, a heartbreaking and devastating time for all my sons. 

The younger two boys came to live with me from Essex, where they had lived with their mum. The youngest was ten years old and the reality of it all hadn’t really sunk in, even though he was heartbroken and understood fully what had happened. He was thirteen when his grief really set in; he started going off the rails at school and going into himself at home, sinking lower and lower.

School introduced us to Child Bereavement UK and he started sessions with a bereavement support practitioner. Over a period of eight months, the support really turned him around and possibly saved his life. Everything changed! He became a star pupil, mapping out career options and getting top marks and great reviews for his behaviour on an almost daily basis. 

My advice to anyone considering doing a challenge event would be just do it.  If you feel strongly for a good cause it's a fabulous thing to do.

He is now in Year 10 and the fabulous reports keep coming in, and his behaviour is excellent. The support from Child Bereavement UK was an absolute godsend and I will be forever grateful to the charity which is why I am taking on this challenge to raise money for an incredible organisation.  

A massive passion in life is landscape photography and this is helping me prepare for the challenge by doing a few smaller hikes. Over the next seven weeks, I plan to build up to some larger higher level hikes to prepare for my Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa hike - a big plus is I should also get some beautiful landscape shots for my portfolio.

I’m being brilliantly supported by Child Bereavement UK’s fundraising team. My advice to anyone considering doing a challenge event would be just do it. If you feel strongly for a good cause it's a fabulous thing to do.

Support Ray's fundraising on his JustGiving page.

---

If you have been inspired to take on a challenge for us, please visit our challenge events page or contact our fundraising team on [email protected] or call 01494 569049.