Grandsons climb Snowdon for Midhurst stalwart Ted

The Treking4Ted team completed the Snowdon Midnight Challenge in just under four hours, raising around £2,500 for Alzheimer’s Society.

Brothers Oli White, Jamie White and Daniel White, and their cousins Jason Dummer and Sean Dummer, wanted to support the charity because their grandad, Ted Dummer, has been affected by dementia.

Katy Plunkett, the Whites’ sister, said: “Grandad has been a prominent part of the Midhurst community for many years, being involved with the football club, council, governor for local schools and many other things.

“Sadly, he is suffering from dementia and now lives a very different life to the active one he did before.”

At one time, all five grandsons played football with Ted for Midhurst and Easebourne FC.

They wanted to team up to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s Society and signed up for the midnight challenge to climb Mount Snowdon last Friday.

Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and this unique challenge allowed people to climb it by torch and moonlight. The descent gave them the opportunity to take in the dramatic landscape surrounding the mountain.

Oli said: “Setting off in typical Welsh summer weather – driving rain and high winds – we made good progress, even with extremely poor visibility and 40mph winds.

“As we neared the summit, the weather worsened and we were moved off the ridge due to the danger of high winds.

“A couple of the team had to stop for a few breathers but we all managed to make it to the top in just under two hours.

“After a quick picture and snack, we made our way back down feeling a lot better than on the way up. We reached the end of our challenge just before 4am for a welcome sit down for coffee and breakfast.”

The Treking4Ted team had asked people to ‘dig deep’ as Ted had done so much for the community in Midhurst and was a ‘great old boy’.

Ted was made an MBE for services to the community in 2000. He retired from Midhurst Town Council in April 2015, having notched up nearly 40 years’ service.

Oli thanked everyone who had made a contribution so far. Visit www.justgiving.com/Treking4Ted to donate.