Seven colleagues from Morris Lubricants in Shrewsbury, are to take on the challenge of conquering the Three Peaks in 24 hours to raise money for The Midlands Air Ambulance Charity.
Morris Lubricants’ ‘magnificent seven’ will climb Ben Nevis at noon on May 15 before heading south to the Lake District to tackle Scafell Pike at midnight and then complete the challenge by heading up Snowdon (Y Wyddfa) at 8am the next morning.
The challenge has been spearheaded by Morris Lubricants’ internal account manager Clayton Matcham, who last year did a charity tandem skydive at Tilstock Airfield with purchasing manager Elliot Hotchkiss for the same charity.
Joining the pair on the company’s latest charity fundraising challenge will be chief operations officer Owen Lloyd, commercial manager Kyle Gleeson, graduate buyer Hannah Stocking, operations graduate Marcus Forrester and internal account manager Ieuan Owen.
All the money raised for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity helps to support the incredible advanced pre-hospital care the air ambulance services bring to those in critical need. Anyone wishing to donate to the challenge can do so online at: https://www.justgiving.com/
The whole team is excited to be taking on this challenge and Clayton said: “The Three Peaks Challenge has been on my bucket list for a while, and to get it done in under 24 hours only makes it more exciting. It will be a first for me because I have never climbed mountains as high as these before.
“The Three Peaks Challenge is one of the biggest challenges in the UK and it will be a real achievement for us all if we manage to pull it off within 24 hours, especially as we are climbing the trickiest – Scafell Pike – in the dark!
“Because it’s the company’s second year of fundraising for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, we wanted to raise the bar and do something special. We have set ourselves a target of raising £2,000 with this challenge, but we would love to raise as much as possible.”
Clayton has a special reason for wanting to support the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, as his father, Neil, was airlifted to hospital after a motorcycle accident on Anglesey more than 20 years ago. With no means of access for a regular ambulance service to get to him, the air ambulance played a crucial role in getting him the support he urgently needed.
A number of the Three Peaks Challenge team have already completed extreme fundraising challenges on behalf of Morris Lubricants over recent years. Most notably Owen Lloyd, who was part of a team that completed a 100-mile charity cycle challenge in 2022 and then took on the 50-mile Longmynd Hike in 2023, while Hannah Stocking completed a 104-mile hike last year.
Morris Lubricants’ executive chairman Andrew Goddard, who climbed Snowdon blindfolded to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2019, said: "The courage and generosity of our employees never ceases to amaze me. It’s a fantastic challenge for them to take on and let’s hope they raise a lot of money.
“We selected the Midlands Air Ambulance as our chosen charity because they do such fantastic work and have the potential to be called upon by anyone at our business, our employees and our customers, too.”
Morris Lubricants has been based in Shrewsbury since 1869 and manufactures oils and lubricants, which are exported to more than 90 countries around the globe.
Pictured: A selection of the Morris Lubricants team (from left) Owen Lloyd, Clayton Matcham, Marcus Forrester, Ieuan Owen and Kyle Gleeson
