A six-year-old from Lancashire has already raised nearly £30,000 for charity by setting himself the incredible challenge of climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest.
Didn’t realise heroes came this young.
Oscar Burrow from Lancaster loves climbing, hiking and walking of all kinds — not to mention a bit of “danger” from time to time, according to his dad Matt — so back in October 2022, the incredible little lad set himself the challenge of climbing the equivalent of Everest for a good cause.
As explained in the description of his fundraising page, after learning about the first men to climb Everest (Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay) Oscar decided he wanted to become the youngest person ever to summit the world’s highest point himself, but knew he needed some practice. Cue awesomeness.
With that in mind, the youngster set himself the challenge of climbing the next best thing: a dozen of the UK’s tallest mountains the total elevation of which would match Everest’s 8,849 metres — all in aid of the Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley. What a little legend.
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Starting with Inglebrough in the Yorkshire Dales, Oscar has now summited 10 out of the 12 peaks on his list and raised nearly £30k for the local Lancashire charity.
Completing the likes of Scafell Pike, Snowdon, The Old Man of Coniston and more, many of which were done in treacherous conditions, this primary school kid has done what many grown adults are too hesitant to take on.
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Citing the likes of Cairn Gorm and Glyder Fawr as some of his hardest simply due to the deep snow and low visibility, Oscar now has two peaks left to go before he reaches the magnificent milestone, having covered countless kilometres and raised enough to send 29 different families on holiday. Incredible.
He did summit amazing! 🚨
Fresh off the back of his chilly trek to the top of Cairngorm, we're very excited to announce that 6 y/o Oscar has reached his £2️⃣9️⃣,0️⃣3️⃣0️⃣ target after an interview with @AmandaHolden & @JamieTheakston on @thisisheart tipped his total over the edge 🙌 pic.twitter.com/F8n4GrKgtE
— Derian House Children's Hospice (@DerianHouse) April 17, 2023
Oscar said that aside from challenging himself, he has kept motivated by the goal of “raising money to help support children and their families when they are facing much harder challenges in their lives.”
Derian House cares for more than 400 babies, children and young people with life-threatening illnesses, along with their families, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We couldn’t think of a better cause than that.
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As his dad told ITV, everyone is “speechless and couldn’t be prouder”, with the hospice themselves adding, “How many six-year-olds could say that they have climbed the height of Mount Everest? Oscar is an incredible little boy”.
Oscar and his dad are set to complete their remarkable journey on 29 May when they scale the might Ben Nevis on the 70th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest. You can donate to Oscar’s Everest Walk challenge for Derian House fundraiser HERE.
Featured Image — Oscar’s Everest Walk for Derian House Children’s Hospice (via Facebook)
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Danny Jones -
18th April 2023 
