Julia's House

GRUELLING land and sea conditions were heroically overcome by a team from Portland Harbour Authority who raised £22,269 for Dorset children’s hospice, Julia’s House. The cash will be used for the hospice’s Pyjama Appeal, providing overnight care for Dorset children suffering life-threatening illnesses.

The intrepid eight-man team set themselves the challenge of tackling the UK’s highest mountains in one go. However, not content with the Herculean task of merely scaling Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, the team made things harder by linking the transport between the peaks using their speciality – the sea.

In an astonishing five-day period, the six members from Portland Harbour Authority and two from Lester Aldridge solicitors embarked on the arduous challenge. They started at Ben Nevis early on Friday 26 June and by Wednesday 1 July successfully climbed the three peaks and covered 700 nautical miles between England, Scotland and Wales. All members successfully completed the challenge, despite a few aches and pains. Customers, friends and family provided generous sponsorship.

Portland Harbour Authority chose Julia’s House because the independent charity provides so much care for children suffering life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses – all without government support. Their Pyjama Appeal has been set up to offer round-the-clock Dorset care for children from across the country. The donation will go towards the six-figure sum needed to provide this ongoing overnight care.

Ian McQuade, Commercial Manager of Portland Harbour Authority, said: ‘Julia’s House does a fantastic job supporting the complex needs of extremely ill children. Thanks to the generous donations we’ve been able to help this important charity get one step closer to their overnight care goal. Our team’s aches and pains were a small price to pay to help with this.’

Linda Schofield-Green from Julia’s House said: ‘This is a fantastic contribution to our Pyjama Appeal and will make a huge difference to the children that we look after and their families. We are delighted that the Portland Harbour Authority has done so much to support us – we can’t thank them and their staff enough.’