A twelve-year-old from Corsham is taking on a sponsored climb-athon to support the seriously ill children and families cared for by Julia’s House children’s hospice.
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Ellie Evans

Ellie Evans thought of the unusual fundraising challenge with the help of her Mum Emma Evans and Nanny Christine Burton, after they read about our Together We Care Appeal in their local paper, the Gazette & Herald.

“We saw that Julia’s House needed more funding and we wanted to do what we could to support them and the local children and families they care for,” said Postwoman Emma. “Ellie likes a challenge and she always wants to help other people too. She loves climbing, so it seemed like a great way to raise money for the charity.”

Ellie will complete her hour-long climb at Corsham Climbing Wall at Springfield Community Campus on Thursday 28 October. She will be encouraged throughout the challenge by her regular climbing instructor, Joel Self, who has donated his time and the wall to support Ellie and Julia's House.

“I’m hoping to do 25 climbs up and down the wall in one hour, but we’ll see how I get on,” said Ellie. “After I’ve been doing it for a while I do get tired, but I’m going to try to keep going.

"I’ve been doing some upper body exercises to help with that because you have to pull yourself up in climbing. I’m excited about the challenge, but I’m also looking forward to when it’s over and I can lie down.”

Already the Year 8 pupil at The Corsham School has raised £250 in donations from friends and family for Julia’s House children’s hospice, and she hopes to double that by the end of the challenge. The funds raised will help the charity to provide free respite care for families of the most seriously ill children in Wiltshire.

We launched our Together We Care Appeal last month in a bid to raise essential funds to support the growing number of local children and families that depend on our care.

Nicky Clack, fundraising assistant for Julia’s House, said, “It’s really heart-warming to see young fundraisers like Ellie pushing themselves to their limit for Julia’s House and the families we care for. We rely on donations to keep our vital care going across Wiltshire, so we’d like to say a big thank you to Ellie and her family for their incredible support, and wish her the very best of luck in her climb.”

Support Ellie’s sponsored climb at her Just Giving page.