Bawtry Hall Training and Conference Centre staff member Elaine, who has been a Doncaster Rambler for over five years, travelled to Nepal in the Himalayas, to join a party of 15 walkers of varying ages on a tough ten-day trek in the foothills of the worlds highest mountain system.

As well as celebrating her landmark birthday, the trip enabled Elaine to raise funds for South East Asian Outreach (SAO), based at Bawtry Hall, where she has worked for eight years as accounts manager for the charity that helps the people of Cambodia.

Rossington resident Elaine said: "I wanted to celebrate my birthday by doing something that I will always remember. I have previously undertaken walks in South Africa and Italy, but the trip to the Himalayas proved to be the most challenging thing that I have ever done."

Elaine has already collected around £2,000 in sponsorship for the charity and she is hopeful that she will reach her target of £5,000.

She added: "Although walking for six hours each day was very hard it
was a wonderful experience. We reached the base camp of Annapurna, which is around 14,000 ft, and walking at that altitude makes breathing very difficult.

"It was not only trekking up hills that was hard... the coming down was just as difficult, and pulling a muscle did not help. The scenery was spectacular. This was the fulfilment of a long-standing ambition."

Elaine continued her fund-raising for the people of Cambodia at a specially organised Ceilidh at which her friends and colleagues helped her to officially celebrate her 60th birthday in Bawtry Hall last month.

For more information about SAO Cambodia visit the website at www.saocambodia.org