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Reaching the Summit

On the 25th June one of our Past Masters, Depute Master Bro. Cameron K. Taylor embarked on an epic journey to Tanzania in order to tackle the highest free standing mountain in the world... Kilimanjaro. I am deligthed to tell you that not only has he suceeded in his quest on making it all the way to the 19,334 ft summit but also in raising over £7,500 for the Quarriers charity.

Cameron on the summit of Kilimanjaro

After much arm twisting I have been forced to put together a few words on my recent trip to Tanzania in aid of Quarriers Village. I set off on the 25th of June to meet up with 17 other people from the UK who were also set on reaching the summit of Africa's highest peak and indeed the worlds largest free-standing mountain at a little over 19,300ft.

I was very fortunate in meeting a fantastic bunch of people who had great spirit and fantastic resolve which enabled all but one of us to summit the mountain six days after setting out from our base camp.

Kilimanjaro and the summit

As most of you know I had set out back in October with the aim of climbing Kilimanjaro, losing 7 stone (100 lbs) in weight and raising over £7500 in sponsorship for Quarriers Village based in Bridge of Weir, a charity which I have been directly involved with for over ten years now. I felt I had reached a stage in my life where I needed to make a serious change to my physical well being and I have a few people to thank for helping me along the way.

I also have dozens of people to thank for their financial support in allowing me to summit the mountain in aid of Quarriers Village and in helping me raise over £7500 for the charity. The guides, porters, cooks and water carriers and indeed all of the Tanzanian people who helped all of my fellow trekkers and myself are to be thanked for their untiring efforts to keep us going when the going got really rough, especially of the summit night, and they cannot be praised highly enough for their efforts.

Kilimanjaro and the summit

As is said in Tanzania and on top of the mountain Jambo, Hakuna Matata!

On behalf of the Past Masters, Office Bearers and Members of No.7, well done Cameron for a truly remarkable achievement!

For those of you who wish to add to Camerons donations, you can do so by following this link for Camerons Just Giving page.