Friends rally to raise £6k in Guy’s memory (From York Press)
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Friends rally to raise £6k in memory of Guy Francis
8:07am Friday 19th October 2012 in News
By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
The friends of Guy Francis at the base of Snowdon. From left, guide Geoff Horky with Andrew Fletcher, Paul Barnes, Ian Low, Dave Robinson, Anton Bell, Chris Baker, Jim Bullock, Richard Fletcher and Luke Richardson
A TEAM of climbers has braved knee-deep snow, rain and wind on Britain’s Three Peaks to raise more than £6,000 in memory of their York friend Guy Francis, who died ten years ago.
The nine friends – Andrew Fletcher, Paul Barnes, Ian Low, Dave Robinson, Anton Bell, Chris Baker, Jim Bullock, Richard Fletcher and Luke Richardson – took on the challenge to boost the York-based Guy Francis Bone Cancer Research Fund, which was founded by Guy, of Wheldrake, before his death.
Paul, who helped organise their bid to climb Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell in 24 hours, said it had been one of the hardest challenges he had ever faced.
“However, I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who loves the outdoors and wanting to raise some money for charity,” he said.
“Climbing down Snowdon – our last descent – was incredibly painful on the knees but I kept reminding myself of why we were all doing this challenge and how much Guy would have been proud of us all. The thought of a full Welsh breakfast waiting for me at the café below helped spur me on as well.”
Guy’s father, Mike, who co-drove the minibus taking the climbers across the country with brother-in-law Chris Habgood, said he felt really honoured to have been there to see them complete the challenge last weekend.
“They are a fantastic group of young men whose achievement has raised more than £6,000 for the charity,” he said.
“Bone cancer is the UK’s number one teenage cancer and we shall be using this to fund vital research projects as to why it is that teenagers and young adults make up 90 per cent of all new cases of this horrible disease every year.”
Guy, who attended Fulford School, was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 17 and had several operations on his leg, neck and lungs, plus months of chemotherapy, before dying aged 23, after the cancer had returned for a third time and further treatment was impossible.
