On the 10th January the team at Graham and co will be heading to Brecon Beacons in Wales for the gruelling hike up Pen-y-Fan peak in their quest to raise much needed funds for the Andover foodbank.
Coming in at 886m (2906ft) above sea level Pen-y-Fan is the tallest peak in South Wales. The trek can be completed in many ways and one of them is the SAS selection challenge called ‘Fan Dance’ which is the most challenging. The team at Graham and Co love a challenge and felt that they had to do this route. According to the Fan Dance Challenge website, ‘The infamous march is the world’s oldest Special Forces test and is used as the first major indicator of whether a candidate has the physical and mental aptitude to complete the legendary Selection course.’
Seven members of the Graham & Co team are committed to completing the gruelling challenge and are self-funding the trip so that all funds raised will go straight to the Andover foodbank. This year food banks have been in high demand whilst many families have suffered as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. The Andover Food Bank provides emergency food packages for families in crisis and has been a lifeline to many people in the community.
One of the staff who is tackling this challenge with his colleagues is Dion McArthur who told Andover Radio “We spoke about doing something for charity as an office, we do something every year like a raffle and give the proceeds to charity, but we thought because it’s been such a tough year for everyone we’d do something extra, something more challenging and difficult with the aim of raising more money alongside doing the raffle. But personally, I thought it would be a great physical challenge as well giving something back –also, a great excuse for getting into better shape!
Before the lockdown we were doing some group sessions to do some training, but since the new lockdown we’ve been doing our own training, I’ve been doing long walks and hill training to try and prepare myself for it. Really excited but also nervous, nervous because I’ve never done anything like this before but excited because it’s going to be great fun, and a really tough challenge for us all.”
As well as working hard for their customer’s the Graham and Co will be training hard in preparation for this monstrous challenge. You show your support and donate her.
