Whaley Bridge teacher to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Kenyan school

Kate Mercer and Wendy Baardman with Sumaya Riaz, Charlie Bryning and Derek Lowe.

Head of Music at Greenbank Preparatory School in Cheeadle Hulme, Kate Mercer, will be part of a 16-strong team starting their six-day ascent of the 5,860-metre peak in Tanzania on October 21.

The group want to raise 20,000 Euros to buy a new minibus for children from Port Reitz Special School Foundation.

Kate, 52, said: “Port Reitz changes the lives of everyone who visits and is a wonderful cause, but as well as raising money I want to support Wendy Baardman, who as treasurer of the Port Reitz Foundation has dedicated the last 16 years of her life to the cause, and our former pupil Harrison who has worked so hard for seven years to raise money.”

Kate said of Wendy, a leg amputee: “If I know Wendy it won’t be her holding us up, but us holding her up. Even with one leg I know she will be leading from the front.”

Anyone wanting to sponsor Kate or to help with the Port Reitz Foundation can contact Greenbank School on 0161 485 3724.