21 May 2009
On his third attempt, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has reached the summit of Everest this morning, completing what he set out to do a year ago – to reach the peak of the world’s highest mountain.
At 65, Sir Ranulph is the oldest Briton to summit Everest, and the first explorer in history to beat the mountain having also crossed both ice caps.
Sir Ranulph said: “I have summited Everest for Marie Curie Cancer Care which has long been a personal goal. Thanks to my sponsor Brewin Dolphin for making this possible, I urge everyone who followed my attempt last year to give generously to Marie Curie so that we can at last achieve our £3 million target to support its pioneering work in end of life care.”
Jamie Matheson, Executive Chairman of Brewin Dolphin said: “We are absolutely thrilled by today’s news – this climb was truly courageous. Sir Ranulph made a speech at one of our client events last year and we were all so inspired, that we wanted to do everything we could to help him make this record attempt.”
Sir Ranulph climbed the north face of the Eiger successfully in 2007 for Marie Curie Cancer Care and first attempted Everest in 2005. He had a heart attack at 8,500 metres on the North Tibetan side but escaped with his life. Last year, after reaching an altitude of 8,400 metres, he turned back due to exhaustion. On his return he said: “I won’t be returning to Everest, it’s a seven week trip – last time I had a heart attack, this time bad timing and weather scuppered my chances, I think any third attempt would be bad luck” making this a most remarkable achievement.
– ENDS –
To help Sir Ranulph smash his £3million target you can make a donation at: http://www.justgiving.com/everestranulph
PRESS CONFERENCE
Sir Ranulph Fiennes will hold a press conference on his return to the UK on Tuesday 26th May at 0900 – the conference will take place at the offices of Brewin Dolphin at 12 Smithfield Street, London EC1A 9BD – breakfast will be provided before the conference at 0830 and photo opportunities will be available.
For further information or if you wish to attend please telephone the Brewin Dolphin Press Office on 0845 213 3330 or Marie Curie Cancer Care – Alex Holdaway, Head of PR at Marie Curie Cancer Care 07884 311 035, alex.holdaway@mariecurie.org.uk www.mariecurie.org.uk
Notes to editors
Brewin Dolphin is the largest independent investment manager in the UK.
The Group manages approximately £17 billion of funds for over 130,000 private clients and of this £9.5 billion is on a discretionary basis. BD has 39 offices throughout the UK and Channel Islands and Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking is corporate adviser to 120 corporate and 100 institutional clients.
Brewin Dolphin Limited (“BD”) is the principal operating company of Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC which is a FTSE 250 company. BD is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the London Stock Exchange.
The Group provides investment management and financial planning services for private investors, charities and pension funds and its Investment Banking division was voted best for Research at the 2008 AIM Awards. Stocktrade is the BD Execution-Only telephone and on-line dealing division.
Please visit the Media Centre at: https://www.brewin.co.uk/group/media for more details and photographs. press@brewin.co.uk www.brewin.co.uk
ISDN broadcast facilities are available in the Brewin Dolphin London office in Smithfield Street, EC1.
Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it expects to provide care to around 27,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its hospices this year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.
Funding
Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.
Marie Curie Nurses
The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end-of-life care, totally free for patients in their own homes.
Research
The charity has two centres for palliative care research, The Marie Curie Palliative Care Unit in London and The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute in Liverpool. It also runs the world-renowned Marie Curie Research Institute, which investigates the causes and treatments of cancer.
Supporting the choice to die at home
Research shows around 65 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be. Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die at home.