Group smash fundraising target for Blackpool’s RNLI climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

Chris Smith (back left) with Adam Tyres (front left), Ben Trotter (middle) and Darren Clemson at the summit

Lifeboat hero Darren Clemso and Chris Smith, Ben Trotter, and Adam Tyres went on an nine-day adventure – and raised almost £5,000 for Blackpool’s RNLI.

Chris, 48, a civil servant from Dawson Road, St Annes, said: “We are really pleased to have done it. It was good to get to the top but it was hard work on the last day.”

Long-time friends Darren and Chris climbed Ulluru in Australia in 2009, Montana Macchu Picchu in Peru in May 2016, and completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in 2017. They also climbed to Everest’s base camp, raising almost £6,000 for the RNLI in the process.

Group smash fundraising target for Blackpools RNLI scaling Mount Kilimanjaro

Ben, however, was a novice – and took part with no climbing or mountaineering experience to challenge himself both physically and mentally. Adam is his flatmate.

The group hoped to raise £3,000 but smashed that target by almost £2,000 after reaching the mountaintop at 6.30am on Wednesday, January 23. They were helped by 22 porters.

“Without them, we wouldn’t have made it,” Chris added.

All the money will go towards general running costs at the RNLI’s Promenade lifeboat station, where Darren has volunteered for more than 20 years.

A star of TV documentary Saving Lives at Sea, he was at the helm on one episode when his lifeboat capsized during horrific weather while searching for a person in the water near to North Pier.

That experience reiterated to Darren, who is also the managing director of EDC Electrical and Developments, the importance of training.

Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/darren-clemson