Rainy Day Trust ceo Bryan Clover has successfully completed a gruelling sponsored 100km non-stop hike, raising much-needed funds to help support people within the housewares, home improvement and garden sector amid soaring energy bills. Sponsors included Addis, Kuhn Rikon and Home Hardware, with all money raised going to the Rainy Day Trusts ‘Let’s Save Energy’ campaign. The initiative gives away free low energy items – including LED lightbulbs and eco shower heads – to help reduce energy bills.
On September 10, Bryan Clover set out from Putney Bridge at the start of the Thames Path Ultra; a mammoth 100km non-stop hike to Henley on Thames, which must be completed in under 24 hours. Despite 712 hikers starting the continuous challenge from Putney Bridge on Saturday, as many as 162 withdrew from the race over the course of the day, mostly due to injury. Impressively, Bryan finished Sunday morning, having completed the 100km in 21 hours and 41 minutes.
He was placed 240th overall for his route and proudly exclaimed: “When you consider that I was certainly old enough to be most participants’ father, I’m quite chuffed with that placing!”
Bryan drank 27 litres of water during the challenge and joked that he probably consumed the equivalent of his weight in bananas.
The Rainy Day Trust’s Let’s Save Energy initiative has proved to be a very effective way of enabling people to cut their bills by up to £250 a year. Bryan explained: “The government has frozen bills, which is great, but we need to remember that they have been frozen at a level that hundreds of thousands of people still can’t afford. The government support, whilst welcome, hasn’t helped people, it has just stopped it getting worse. Charities like us are left to pick up the pieces.”
He thanked the businesses that generously supported the hike, including Addis Homeware, Home Hardware and Kuhn Rikon in the housewares sector. There is still time to support this great initiative by donating via Bryan’s fundraising page here.
Top: Rainy Day Trust ceo Bryan Clover completed the Thames Path Ultra, a non-stop 100km hike in under 24 hours, to raise funds for the charity.
