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The Theatre Knights go climbing Slieve Donard for charity
By Adrian Cooke
The Challenge
It was late 2006 and the theatre knights were really busy; with a production in full swing of rehearsals, set needing built, publicity needing circulated and whole stack of other things needing done, it seemed that, as a group, we had enough on our plate.
It was then, during one of the Knights gigs at the Pavilion, Jim Johnston (a stalwart of the knights) approached us and told us about little Clare Hayes.
Clare Hayes was the niece of Deborah Hayes (another friend of the knights) and at 9 years old had contracted cancer and was in need of treatment. However the family were short of funds to pay for this treatment and the so the little Hayes foundation had been set up to raise money to help provide Clare with what she needed to survive. I am sure people have heard similar stories of families desperately battling to save the life of a loved one and this situation seemed no different. But what could an organisation like the theatre knights do to help?
The answer was simple ….WALKING! Walking?? I hear you cry.
Jim told us that the foundation was organizing a sponsored walk in order to raise money. And it wasn’t just an ordinary walk either! It was going to be a walk to climb none other than the mighty Slieve Donard, the highest peak of all the Mourn Mountains! Wow!! Some of us said. And that wasn’t all.
Not only was the walk going to raise money but it was going to raise double its money at the same time. Confused? I was. Jim revealed that for every amount raised for the foundation it was going to matched penny for penny, pound for pound by the U.K. phone giants Vodafone, so if you raised £1 then it would become £2! Again Wow!
For someone like me an opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often so myself and some of the other knights jumped at the chance to help out with this worthy cause that was lying right on our doorstep.
The Climb
After meeting up in Belfast at 8am on rather wet and dismal Saturday morning our group of knights drove for an hour and a half down to an even wetter and more dismal looking Newcastle to begin the charity trek. Those of the knights that did make it down were Adrian Cooke (myself), Jim Johnston, Eileen Griffith, Camel Hartley and Alice McCullough. Our starting point was the car park at the foot  of Slieve Donard.
The Mountain loomed eerily in the foreground, its entire top half obscured by the drizzly low lying clouds around it. At one point we feared that the trek would be called off but to our amazement a group of about 30 other people to had turned out to take part and they were not in a quitting mood and neither were we! They consisted of family friends, their friends, organizers and us Knightly artistic folk. With a laugh and a shudder we started off into the forest and began our ascent.
The one lesson that struck me as we walked through the forest was one I learned from my time in the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Never underestimate how high a mountain is or how far through a forest you to have to walk. And this became immediately clear. It took us around 1 hour to get through the forest which lines the base of the mountain and there were times when there wasn’t even a path to follow! - Just lines of tress and the assumption that you were hopefully going the right direction - The sights of the forest were extremely beautiful and although it was cold we were really surprised that that didn’t stop groups of people whom we encountered donning bathing costumes and jumping into the river from rocky ledges which lined its edges. ‘Brave souls’ I thought as we passed by. From their outrageous laughter they were obviously enjoying themselves just as we were.
The overall beauty of the landscape was as always staggering. Going to places like this is always good if it happens rarely as you appreciate what you see, hear and experience even more.
It was at this stage (about an Hour in) that the climb was beginning to prove a little too much for some of our members and sadly Jim Johnston and Alice Mculough dropped out.
From here on in it was just Camel, Eileen and I. We continued on through the forest and broke through the tree line around 30minites later. The weather was extremely drizzly and breezy, but with so much  walking being done and a fun attitude we didn’t really let it bother us.
From the forest it was another two hours over open and increasingly steep ground to the Mourn wall which was two thirds of the way up the mountain. The climb got harder and harder as we climbed up a stairway made from stones which had been laid into to the side of the mountain itself. After a while it was impossible to see back down to Newcastle where we started from as were now right in the middle of the clouds around Slieve Donard. Eventually we got to the wall and a pile of left over rocks which marked the end of the second stage of the walk.
I t was at this point the weather took a decidedly bad turn with rain coming down harder and only the bravest of walkers trying for the steeper climb to the summit. As we wanted to stay together as a group and the weather was making the terrain quite hazardous we decided that this was a far as we would go. Reluctantly we began our descent back down to the car park, a descent which was just as long and just as arduous but also just as fun and enjoyable as the ascent was.
In the end we found ourselves completely drenched sharing a local bar with many others who were just as drenched as we were. But the best thing was, like us they didn’t moan or groan. In fact there was more fun and laughter ringing around the room on that rainy day than what you’d hear in a Belfast bar on a Friday night. The fact that people had put themselves through all that physical endeavour to raise money for a good cause gave everyone a fantastic buzz.
 
In the end the Theatre Knights were able to raise around £600 which became £1200 thanks to the sponsor’s pledge. This in turn, when combined with the money raised by the other participants went towards raising around a staggering £10,000 for The Little Hayes Foundation.
It was such a great experience to get out and do stuff for something greater than yourself that will actually make a difference in someone’s life. I for one had a great time and I’m sure the rest of the knights did too. I only hope that the Theatre Knights will undertake similar endeavours in future…I fact I’m certain they shall.
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