Local professionals conquer Leathes Prior’s challenge to raise funds for OPEN Youth Trust!

Friday 25^th May saw eight teams of local professionals conquer Leathes Prior’s challenge to climb the height of Norwich Cathedral spire to raise funds for OPEN Youth Trust.

The fundraising event, which took place on the 12 metre indoor climbing wall at OPEN (Norfolk’s tallest indoor wall), required teams of three to climb 96 metres in the quickest time possible – with the winning team receiving the coveted Charity Climb trophy.

Teams from local businesses donated £100 towards the charity to enter and included CAM Architects, McTear Williams & Wood, Larking Gowen, Brewin Dolphin, M+A Partners, Birketts, Strutt & Parker, Lovewell Blake and of course Leathes Prior. The teams did extremely well, all successfully completing the challenge within 25 minutes.

The winning team, steaming through the 96 metres in an astonishing 10 minutes 13 seconds, were Strutt & Parker!

Open Youth Trust was Leathes Prior’s charity of the year in 2017, when the planning for the event began, and Leathes Prior is delighted that every penny raised from the event will go directly to the charity. The charity was established in 2005 to give young people in Norfolk the life skills and confidence to maximise their potential. They now make a positive difference to the lives of over 4,500 young people each year through their drop-in youth hub in the city centre, workshops, gym, dance studio and climbing wall.

Dan Jeffrey, OPEN Youth Trust’s Climbing Instructor said: “It was a great day and fantastic to have so many business people taking time out of their busy working day to partake in this climbing challenge. A huge thank you to everyone who either took part in, or sponsored a team, helping to raise as much money as possible for OPEN. Every £100 means that we can fund 12 young people lacking in self-belief to take part in a one day course, aimed at raising self-esteem, aspirations and thus giving a boost to their mental health”.

If you would still like to donate to OPEN Youth Trust and support all those teams that completed the challenge, then please follow this link. Every little helps and the charity will be very grateful for any donations we can secure. This information shows the difference that our joint fundraising could make:

- £5 can pay for a hot meal for a homeless young person;

- £10 can pay for one hour of one to one employability coaching for a young person;

- £20 can pay for a bursary placement on one of our holiday courses;

- £50 could pay for two disadvantaged young people to gain a level one recognised accreditation to enhance their CV;

- £100 could pay for 12 young people lacking in self-belief to take part in a one day course aimed at raising self-esteem, aspirations & improving mental health;

- £240 could pay for 42 young people who face multiple barriers to have one hours tuition on our climbing wall to promote positive wellbeing, health & team work; or

- £500 could pay for delivering a sensory disco aimed at young people with disabilities.

Images from all of the action on the day can be found here.

Thank you again to all those that took part, came along to support teams on the day, or supported the event by donating on our just giving page.