MACS Staff at the summit of Cadair Idris!
Date: Saturday June 18th. Location: Snowdon, Cadair Idris, Pen-Y-Fan. The Event: ‘Ty Hafan – Welsh Three Peaks Challenge’ (to walk a distance of 20.3 miles and a total ascent of 9,397 feet or 2,864 metres).
Thirty-six members of staff (teaching and non-teaching) from Mountain Ash Comprehensive School (organised into eight teams of four walkers and four drivers) successfully completed the ‘Welsh Three Peaks Challenge’ in aid of the charity Ty Hafan. The challenge was to ascend the three peaks of Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen-Y-Fan in fifteen hours. Teams must consist of four walkers and each team must raise £800 to enter the event. MACS staff have proudly raised over £8,000 for this incredibly worthy charity!
Ty Hafan is one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care charities and offers care to children and support for their families, throughout Wales. The charity offers comfort, care and support to life-limited children, young people and their families in the hospice, in the community and in their home so they can make the most of the time they have left together. It enables parents and carers to relax and recharge their batteries, whilst making sure that the needs of brothers and sisters are never forgotten.
Mr. Derek Mead (Deputy Headteacher) said, “I am immensely proud of the staff at MACS. Every team member showed tremendous spirit and commitment to complete the challenge whilst raising money for Ty Hafan. I hope that this will be the first of many fund raising challenges in the future!”
Further aims of the challenge were to benefit staff well-being and to demonstrate commitment and resilience to the pupils of Mountain Ash Comprehensive School. All year groups received a presentation in Assembly regarding this notable staff achievement.
Bronwen Morgan (Year 10) said, “I felt very proud of my teachers because they showed us that you can succeed at anything if you try your best!”
Jak Thomas (Year 10) said, “Seeing my teachers do this for a brilliant charity is inspirational! It created a buzz amongst pupils in our year group”.
All the MACS team members completed the challenge successfully and were rewarded with certificates and medals. To the schools’ knowledge, Mountain Ash is the only school in Wales (in terms of scale), to have more teams enter than any other organization this year. An achievement in itself – Very well done all!
