2022 saw a busy expedition/event year for the Curtis Palmer Program. We did a huge amount of mountain climbing, surfing, paddle boarding, walking, wild water swimming, canoeing and fundraising but amongst the highlights were..
We took 10 officers on the National 3 Peaks Challange climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon in 24 hours. Amongst the service users were officers with physical illness (Stage 4 cancer, MND) and mental health illness. Our 2023 National 3 Peaks challenge event is already full of service users.
Climbed Pen Y Fan carrying a Concept 2 Rowing machine and rowed 5,000m for fallen officer raising funds.
Helped an injured military veteran get to the summit of Pen Y Fan in his wheelchair.
We led a group of service users, their family and family and Thames Valley Polices PCC to climb the tallest mountain in England, Scafell Pike, on World Cancer Day.
We helped Lissie Harper with her fundraising event “Carry the weight of Harper” raising funds for our Norway expedition.
The Curtis Palmer Program trained for 3 months and successfully completed the 4 day Devizes to Westminster Canoe race.
We were invited to the Commando Training Centre, Lympstone, Devon and pushed pulled an injured military veteran around the 9-mile Commando Speed march route in his wheelchair. This event raised money for the injured veteran so his mother and he could go on a much-needed break. We had previously raised over £5,000 to buy him a more suitable wheelchair.
We successfully canoed from one side of Scotland to the other along the Caledonian canal and across Loch Ness.
Our Norway 2022 Expedition saw 16 service users walk over mountains for 3 days and canoe down the fjords for 5 days while wild camping. Amongst the service users were 2 with cancer, 1 with MND, a former Police Officer who suffered 63% burns, officers with mental health illness. We were lucky to be joined by military veterans who helped teach guide the canoeing phase. One of the veterans was a single leg amputee and on a double leg amputee.
Through our contacts with other Charities, we gained a free place on Deptherapy’s diving course in Egypt. We have been invited back to their 2023 expedition.
In March we entered a team to the Commando Speed March event in Spean Bridge Scotland and not only completed the event our service user won an award for bravery.