Four hardy pupils at from Moray’s Gordonstoun School have been training hard in Lossiemouth and Dufftown for a challenge they hope will fund a bid to help deliver clean water supplies in third-world nations.
The four have been preparing for a 467-mile cycle challenge between Edinburgh and London in March – aiming to raise the £2200 they require to fund school trips to Ethiopia and Thailand where they aim to help in the delivery of clean water.
18-year-old Johnnie Meredew is being joined by 17-year-old pair Calum Henderson and Sam Gordon as well as 16-year-old Cameron Patel in the challenge.
Sam explained: “We are hugely excited to be embarking on such an awesome adventure – we are hoping to raise as much money as possible for both the Thailand and Ethiopia projects.”
Pupils at the school have been involved in the Gordonstoun Thailand Water Project since the 1980’s, visiting remote villages on over the years to and helping to build water tanks. Two years ago pupils launched a similar project to help deliver clean water in Ethiopia.
Last summer a team of pupils from the school travelled to Tigray Province in Northern Ethiopa to carry forward work they had undertaken the previous year, improving classrooms at a local school in a village where they had already helped build a clean water supply system.
School principal Simon Reid said of the fundraising trip: “This is a fantastic undertaking by four outstanding Gordonstoun students.
“They are clearly demonstrating a true Gordonstoun spirit of adventure and initiative in attempting to raise funds for their chosen international projects.”