17/09/09
South Wales business leader Meek heads for the peak
A south Wales businessman is swapping the boardroom for the highest mountain on earth to raise funds for disadvantaged children.
And kind-hearted Allan Meek, 48, of Llandaff, Cardiff, is not only aiming to raise £10,000 for children's charity Barnardo's through the trek, but is also donating five per cent of his company's monthly profits to help the good cause.
The former Fitzalan High School pupil is managing director of Caerphilly-based SCS Group, one of the UK's leading providers of ventilation, building management and smoke control solutions to the mechanical and electrical contractor market, and has started training to follow in the hiking boot-steps of pioneers like Tenzing and Hillary.
Allan is leaving for the 9 hour-a-day, 18-day ascent to 5,360m-high Everest Base Camp at the end of October before returning to Kathmandu to climb to the top in 2011.
And before scaling the world's tallest peak, he has a gruelling training schedule in store to help him reach peak condition.
Allan said:
"I'm tackling Base Camp to acclimatise myself with the conditions before returning to hit the top in two years' time. I've been doing some rock climbing in north Wales to prepare and was due to climb Mont Blanc this summer before I damaged my knee.
"After this trip, I'm going to Scotland early next year for some snow and ice training, then the Alps and the highest mountain outside of Asia, Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina. I'm hoping this will stand me in good stead to try the biggest one of the lot!".
Allan is no stranger to high-octane activities, leading twice-weekly 'white collar' boxing sessions with his colleagues at his local boxing club.
Allan said:
"We regularly run fundraising initiatives and when we decided to channel donations to a specific cause, Barnardo's came top of a ballot of our 30-plus staff.
"We are proud to have strong links in the local community and the welfare of disadvantaged children is an issue close to our heart. Barnado's does some fantastic work with young people across south Wales and if we can help them reach more people in need then we're only too glad to help."
Poppy Vine, Corporate Partnerships, Barnardo's Cymru said:
"Allan loves to set himself challenges and we wish him the best in his trek up Everest. SCS is a great supporter of our work and they're always keen to support us in any way they can. The activities that Allan and his team take part in and the money they regularly contribute makes a real difference to the number of children we can help in projects in the Cardiff and Caerphilly areas, and we look forward to following his progress!"
Those wishing to donate to the cause can log onto www.justgiving.com/Allan-Meek.
ENDS
SCS Group is the UK's first one stop shop for the design, manufacture and installation of systems for ventilation, smoke control and building management applications. It offers a wide range of integrated systems to help clients reduce costs. The firm offers free seminars for M&E contractors. Visit www.groupscs.co.uk for more information.
For further information please contact
Sara Robinson or Phil Nutting on sara.robinson@workingwordpr.com/ phil.nutting@workingwordpr.com or 029 20 64 6840 / 07950 509187.
