Team Member Profile - Jean-Luc Priez

Sex - Male
Age - 53
Star Sign - Cancer - The Crab , Water
Nationality - French

Profession - Chief Executive of Lench's Trust.

After a career in the NHS both in London and in Gloucestershire Jean-Luc managed a hospice in the Cotswold's for 10 years, before joining Lench's Trust in 2006.

Interests -Born in Le Mans (France) in 1956 and has been living in the UK since 1982!

"I came over partly because I was out of a job after university and partly because I was in admiration for the NHS. It took me 7 years to get a job there but perseverance paid…

I have a passion for travelling abroad – Africa, North & South America – and trekking up mountains, having done Mt Toubkal in Morocco and Mt Kinabalu in Asia. Kilimanjaro is a challenge unfulfilled… having attempted it in 1999 but succumbing to exhaustion.

I live and LOVE Birmingham… " - Jean-Luc

Team Member Profile - Stuart Cusworth

Sex - Male
Age - 23
Star Sign - Aries - The Ram , Fire
Marital Status - Single
Nationality - British

Profession - Buyer of Golf equipment for four years for a leisure firm, travelling all over the World meeting suppliers and gaining and learning as much as he can for the future. He will be joining the Royal Navy in September later this year, eventually training to become an Officer specialising in Logistics.

Interests - He is football mad and supports Newcastle. He Loves the great outdoors and playing sports. He ran the London Marathon last year and the Great North Run and raised £10,000 with his friend for charity. Stuart loves a challenge..

Tamworth In Arden - Idyllic, Quaint

Jean-Luc emailed everyone on Friday to ask if we fancied another walk over the weekend. I need to build up more endurance so I said yes as long as I was back in Brum for 5pm. So we agreed to meet at "The Green" in front of the Parish Church in Tamworth In Arden at 1pm on Sunday.

I wasn't quite sure who would turn up but Qasim let me know on Saturday that he would be there.

I arrived at the allotted time and parked on a side road and changed into my walking gear and grabbed my camera before making my way to the church. Jean-Luc accompanied by Stuart was parking up just as I reached The Green. We exchanged greetings and I left them to get changed while I took a short stroll around the village.

The centre of the village looked magnificent and the The Green turned out to be a lush grass island complete with elegant round picnic tables positioned directly opposite the Church. On the adjacent side was a fabulous pub called The Bell Inn. This also doubled as a boutique hotel and the restaurant menu looked delicious. It was lunch time and it was obviously a popular place to meet and eat judging from the crowd spilling out the door and the array of expensive cars parked outside - Mercs, Aston Martin, Porche....

Qasim phoned to say he was 5 minutes away and I let Jean-Luc and Stuart know and I told them that I was going for a short exploratory walk to take some pictures and I would meet them on the Green ten minutes later. It was a lovely warm sunny day and strolling around the church and the cemetery was quite soothing. The scenery in and around the church was amazing and the back of the church opened out onto some fabulous countryside.

I made my way back to the others , and Qasim had just arrived. He had bought along a friend that was staying with him and who loved country walks. We made introductions and commenced our trek. Stuart was navigating this time and we set off with him in the lead, guide book in hand. He did explain that he might be slightly deaf as he was listening to the Aston Villa game through his earpiece - as you may have guessed Stuart is an avid football fan.

Just beyond the church we turned right and walked into the entrance of Uberslade Farm Park and walked along a beautiful Boulevard lined on each side with enormous conifers standing majestically tall along a half mile stretch of tarmac road.

To be continued...

So you think you know it all? Prove it !! for charity

Jean-Luc has organised a charity quiz night on 11th May 2010. This sounds like fun , so get your mates together, think of a name for your team of four and register with Jean-Luc by phone on 0121 455 8808 or email jean-lucp@lenchs-trust.co.uk for the quiz night. There is a cash bar on the evening and the £10 per person price includes dinner.

The event is at 8pm at The Garden House, 160 Hagley Road, Birmingham

Remember it's all for a good cause and you are helping to raise money to build sheltered housing for the elderly in Birmingham for those who cannot afford it.. so do give us and them your support.

Awe Inspiring !!

Qasim sent me an email today with two attachments and a note : "Hi guys,

A business contact sent me these pictures. His parents did Kilimanjaro in 1951. I’m sure you will agree they are amazing !

Enky "

I have to say when I opened up the files and saw the pictures, I was in awe of the scene and even more determined to get to the top.. Thanks Qasim.

William Lench Court - Rises from the ground

Jean-Luc sent me a picture of the progress at William Lench Court. He also told me about how relieved he was to have finally completed his course of inoculations with his last jab - the Yellow Fever. Apparently it was painless and he had not even realized that he had been inoculated until after the event- clever nurse. No side effects so far, but apparently the vaccine starts to kick in after 10 days.

You can see the Brick Laying Ceremony performed by Cllr Len Clark in presence of Tim Cuthbertson who is a Trustee of the Lench's Trust.

I think the Councillor is asking about where the mortar is.There is some real grafting going on in the background. They better get a move on if they are going to finish the building on time !!

AMS, HAPE, HACE – or Altitude sickness

I have been reading up on forms of Altitude Sickness. The relevant acronyms sounded like STD's lol

AMS – Altitude Mountain Sickness – mild ;-( decent will cure this.
HAPE – High Altitude Pulmonary Edema – very bad :-((( decent quickly recommended.
HACE – High Altitude Cerebral Edema – very, very bad :-(((((( immediate medical attention and decent immediately recommended.

The statistics show that a third of people who climb Kilimanjaro fail to make it to the top because of altitude sickness. More people fail to reach the top because of altitude sickness rather than strength or stamina. We intend to be in the two thirds that will be popping champagne at the top !!.

Kilimanjaro is 19,710 feet high. If you are in a plane at this altitude and the cabin pressure were to reduce to that outside the plane, without breathing apparatus you would lose consciousness in four minutes and die!! The air is too thin. If however you allow your body to gradually adjust (acclimatise) to the air pressure you can live for several days. This is why the local guides always say to their charges for the ascent Pole Pole – which in Swahili means Slowly Slowly. If we ascend slowly and allow our bodies to acclimatise we should be fine. Other ways that help to adapt and avoid AMS are to eat regularly and keep energy levels up to avoid fatigue and to keep hydrated by drinking every few minutes.One should also keep warm to avoid using up energy that will be spent on keeping the body warm. The mountain does not respect age or fitness and people from the age of 14 to 87, and some disabled climbers have made it to the summit by being sensible.

If our bodies fail to adapt we may face some of the symptoms of altitude sickness. These include having a thumping, blinding headache, nausea and/or vomiting. Mild AMS can be treated with the usual headache and nausea remedies. If AMS gets worse one will be unable to sleep, lack appetite, be out of breath. If it gets to a stage where the climber cannot walk 10m in a straight line, is mentally confused, has slurred speech, or has a resting heartbeat over 130 it’s over and AMS will be too much , the climber will have to turn back. Like Jean-Luc and Patrica during their ascent ten years earlier, if you get sick, or cold symptoms, or are just too weak, you are buggered and will have to abort.

I’m sure this will not happen to our group but remember the 5P rule (how can you forget hehehe) it’s good to know what to look out for.