A 73-year-old journalist is hoping to break a Guinness World Record and raise cash for charity by pushing a disabled man in a wheelchair up Mount Snowden.
With a little help, Jo Siedlecka, who lives in Gospel Oak, will push David Bainbridge up the Welsh mountain on September 24 to raise money for the Jubilee Sailing Trust, which gives people with disabilities the opportunity to sail on a tall ship.
The trust had two tall ships, The Lord Nelson and Tenacious, until the charity was forced to sell the former after the Covid lockdowns.
"We're doing a crazy climb," said Jo, who lives in the St Pancras Alms Homes in Southampton Road.
"We have to raise £1.5million by the end of the month or the charity goes bust. Everybody is madly doing different things. We wanted to do something that would go in the Guinness book of records. It's never been done before, pushing a wheelchair up Mount Snowdon."
A team of 12 will take it in turns helping get David up the mountain.
"We're trying to get more people as it's going to be quite heavy going," said Jo who is founder of the Independent Catholic News website.
She added: "Tenacious is the only tall ship in the world which is adapted to take wheelchairs. It's got braille everywhere. It's basically so that able-bodied and people with disabilities can sail. It really is an exhilarating experience."
She heard about the trust while a reporter for the Camden Chronicle in the 1990s when she was invited to look at the Lord Nelson.
She became actively involved in 2012 and has done several trips on Tenacious.
"Built in 2000, it has sailed to Australia, across the Atlantic, and to the South Pacific. It really is a beautiful ship.
"I've sailed a few times on it around the UK. You buddy with somebody whose got a disability."
"Most of the tall ships belong to Merchant Navy or are Navy ships. We are the only civilian ship.
"There's such a nice crowd. There are people in their 20s up to people in their 70s involved in the project. Some people with disabilities are much better sailors than me.
"If you're blind you can sail because a tiller makes a sound every time you are on course or off it, it's beautiful."
To donate visit www.pullingtogetherupsnowdon.org.uk
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