Five mums scale the heights in aid of village pre-school

A group of five mums have raised hundreds of pounds for Great Dalby Pre-School by scaling three of the largest peaks in Yorkshire.
By Nick Rennie
Published 15th Jun 2021, 13:25 BST
From left, Hayley Inchley, Claire Fleming, Liz Riley, Michelle Kent and Jo Wright, pictured taking a break during their Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Great Dalby Pre-School EMN-210615-114504001From left, Hayley Inchley, Claire Fleming, Liz Riley, Michelle Kent and Jo Wright, pictured taking a break during their Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Great Dalby Pre-School EMN-210615-114504001
From left, Hayley Inchley, Claire Fleming, Liz Riley, Michelle Kent and Jo Wright, pictured taking a break during their Three Peaks Challenge in aid of Great Dalby Pre-School EMN-210615-114504001

Liz Riley, Claire Fleming, Jo Wright, Hayley Inchley and Michelle Kent completed their gruelling Three Peaks Challenge in an impressive 10 hours and 35 minutes on Saturday.

They are united by the fact that their children all attended the group, which has been unable to organise fundraising events during the pandemic, and some of them also work there.

The friends celebrated with a glass of wine afterwards but were so tired they were all in bed by 9pm.

After they walked a total of 24 miles and reached the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres), Liz told the Melton Times: “We set off at 4.30 in the morning because it was forecast to be a hot day and we didn’t want to get sunstroke.

“It was challenging but fun at the same time and we were all very proud of ourselves at the end.

“We enjoyed a glass of wine afterwards but we were all in bed by 9 because we were so exhausted.

“It was tough and walking downstairs was quite painful after we got back.”

The friends, who are all aged in their 30s, walked across miles of the Melton borough countryside over the last few months to train for their challenge in the Pennine range, up peaks which encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

In the case of Liz, Claire and Michelle, each have two chilren who attended the pre-school group, which Jo and Hayley are staff members there and have children who’ve also been there.

Liz, who celebrated her 37th birthday on the day of the challenge, added: “All our children have been through Great Dalby Pre-School and all five of us feel we want to give back to the amazing work and dedication that has been put into our children’s early years education, especially as it’s a charity based pre-school.

“Fundraising was missed last year due to Covid and we wanted to do something that could recoup some of the lost revenue that would have been achieved from other events if they could have gone ahead.”

They have so far raised just over £1,400 - go online to uk.gofundme.com/f/7jth2d-yorkshire-3-peaks-challenge to sponsor them.

Related topics:YorkshireMeltonIngleborough