WHY I SUPPORT THE CHARITY: IVY RICHMOND

WHY I SUPPORT THE CHARITY

Ivy in her mountain gear, ready to climb her 'Everest'

In the run up to her 100th birthday last month, keen walker Ivy Richmond took on her very own Everest Challenge to raise money for GOSH Charity. Ivy shares her special story with Pioneer.

A love of walking begins

From an early age, walking everywhere was normal. It was the only way for my two older brothers, George and Frank, and I to get to our school in north London, and back again, twice each day. But we loved being outside walking – playing marbles in the street with friends was another of our favourite activities.

In 1932 I transferred to secondary school but then a move of home meant a move in school, where I wasn’t very happy. Even though money was tight, my mother saved to send me to Pitman’s College to learn shorthand and typing skills (I still use shorthand when needing to write in a hurry). After the year-long course, I was employed as an office junior at the Commercial Union in London’s Lower Regent Street, earning 30 shillings a week. That was just enough for any travel I needed and be able to give my mother some money too. But all this time I still loved walking around whenever I could.

A connection with GOSH

My brother Frank’s wife Joan gave birth to their first daughter on 17th February 1944. Margaret (Miggie) was born with a deficiency in her white blood corpuscles, making it difficult for her to fight disease. As luck would have it, Miggie stayed one step ahead of antibiotics development and was well looked after by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where she spent a great deal of her childhood.

By this time, I was working at a mineral water company called Idris, based in Camden Town, so I was able to visit Miggie at GOSH twice a week after work – it was around a 40-minute walk. Back then there were times set for visiting; once I was told off by a nurse because I had arrived too early, something that the less strict nurses had always allowed! I got to know GOSH well between the years of 1944 and 1960, before Miggie was transferred to University College Hospital.

Miggie was such a kind-hearted, sweet child and I loved her very much. Her determination and wonderful care at GOSH and other NHS providers gave her the best possible quality of life for 31 years. That’s why our family have continued to support GOSH and raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) became the obvious choice when I set myself my ‘100th-Year Challenge’. I’d also been inspired by what Captain Sir Tom Moore had achieved; if only I could raise as much money as he did!

Ivy’s niece Miggie (right) at GOSH

The 100th-year challenge

My youngest niece and her partner climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in 2009 and they suggested I could do the same with my own ‘Everest’ in my 100th year. I was set up with a chart to record the flights of stairs I would climb; nine sets of 18 stairs per day for 364 days, plus a diagram to show the landmarks along the way.

I have always enjoyed walking in the hills. I trekked to a high hut on the Marmolada in Italy when I was in my fifties and I also climbed Snowdon in Wales, which must have been really good practice for what I’ve recently been doing.

My first feat of the challenge was Box Hill (224 metres = 78 flights of stairs), which was the local hill to where I had lived for many years in Epsom, Surrey. I then passed over the National Three Peaks (the heights of Scafell Pike in the Lake District, Ben Nevis in Scotland and Snowdon in Wales) and Mont Blanc in France, on my way to the Seven Summits, which are the highest points in each continent. As I talk to Pioneer, I am above Camp 4 on Everest. By the day before my 100th birthday on 23rd October, I was on top of the world (8848m = 3,073 flights of stairs). I felt elated to be at the summit of Everest…also because I won’t have to climb nine flights of stairs in a row every day!

Walking has always been my passion as keeping fit is important to me – sometimes I still feel as if I’m 21 – and I’m convinced it’s vital to just keep going. When I lived in Epsom I belonged to a local walking group until the age of 96, before I moved to Ipswich, and I loved our walks on the South Downs. I also love trips to the Suffolk and Norfolk coasts and am looking forward to my trip to Cornwall in November.

Most of all, I’m thrilled that my stair climbing has raised money for such a good cause and thank everyone for their support. What I would really like now is an exercise bike so I can start my next challenge cycling the distance between Land’s End and John O’Groats! Cycling could be my 101st year challenge to raise money...watch this space.