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From Horsington to Kilimanjaro - For the British Heart Foundation

Friday 28 January 2011, 18:46
By John Baxter

Penny Moorcraft: artist, mother of two grown up children and keen sportswomanIn support of the British Heart Foundation

Artist, mother of two grown up children and keen sportswoman Penny Moorcraft has been seen early in the morning almost daily at Wincanton Sports Centre swimming the odd mile or two in preparation for what will be the most demanding trek of her life.

Walking with her friend Andrea Podmore who is a Cardiac Rehab Nurse, the two of them are setting out to reach the top of the awe-inspiring and forbidding Mount Kilimanjaro whose snow clad brooding presence floats above the Kenyan countryside. At over 19,000 feet this is the highest mountain in Africa.

Andrea's motivation is clearly inspired by her work as a nurse helping heart patients recover from surgery and come to terms with the life-style changes - good diet and exercise - which are the keys to getting back to normal life.  Penny is doing this because she lost her grandfather to heart disease, and it has affected other family members and friends, for heart disease takes away more people than any other single cause (70,000 a year).

Some trees, and shrubs and stuff. But if you look really close you can see there's also quite a large hill back there.Penny and Andrea are setting off for Kenya on the 29th of January and are booked to fly back on February 8th and her aim is to raise £2000 from sponsors, all of which will go to the BHF (Penny has paid her own travel and accommodation costs).

Approximately 2.6 million men, women and children in the UK are living with coronary heart disease (CHD), this disease is only one of numerous other conditions that can affect you, your family and friends. The monies raised by Penny doing this strenuous trek will help fund pioneering research into the causes and prevention of heart disease.

So how can you support the two of them? Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/pennymoorcraft1




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