Janice Penman, our intrepid Interim Head of Community Services, has been off conquering more mountains having recently returned from scaling the dizzy heights of Cadair Idris and Mount Snowdon.
The hike to the top of Cadair Idris, the highest peak in southern Snowdonia, on Sunday 26th March was a particularly poignant one as Janice chose to dedicate it to her late friend and former colleague Julia Moodey, who worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Hospice for several years.
On the day, Janice was joined by our Hospice at Home nurse Rachel Wisby and together they planted yellow daffodils – Julia’s favourite flower – along their route to the 2,930ft summit. They also told anecdotes and stories about Julia, some of which had been shared beforehand by their other Isabel colleagues.
“Sadly, Julia died in February 2021 and is sorely missed by everyone who knew and worked with her,” Janice said. “One of my fondest memories of her was in September 2011 when, together with some of the others from the Community Team, we were checking out a route for the Isabel Hospice Challenge Walk.
“We ended up getting completely lost at one point and between us had to work out where we were. One of the photos later showed me, Julia and Jackie Lacey standing staring at a map looking hopeless. We later realised we were looking at the wrong part of the map and we joked about how rubbish we were at map reading.
“Hopefully, my map reading skills have improved a bit since then so that I manage to climb these mountains!”
Janice has set herself the monumental challenge of climbing 12 mountains in 12 months in aid of our charity and has so far raised £750.
So far this year she has scaled Moel Siabod in January and Pen Y Fan in February, along with March’s climb of Cadair Idris and Snowdon at the beginning of April. She will next be heading north to Scotland to take on Goatfell on the Isle of Arran on Tuesday 2nd May.
Inspired by Janice’s magnificent mountaineering? You can send her fundraising soaring by donating to her JustGiving page.
