They raised over £3500, conquering 24 storeys symbolising the height of Grenfell Tower 72 times. Each climb symbolised a life lost at the devastating tower fire in London in 2017. The challenge saw them taking 138,000 steps in total – the equivalent of climbing Big Ben’s Eizabeth Tower 69 times.
Now the National Armed Forces and Emergency Services Event has nominated the pair for their hard work in the “Most Outstanding Fire Service Award” at this year’s ceremony, due to take place on September 12th.
Kev, a firefighter at Cleckheaton Fire Station said “It was tough, but I never wanted to stop– it was a good mix of doing it alone and with other people that kept us going for the nine hours on the day. We are both strong minded and strong willed- there was no way we weren’t doing it. Halfway was tough – we went faster at the end than at the start.”
The brothers attended North Kensington Fire Station in London to meet their colleagues who were first on the scene at the high-rise tower disaster as part of their campaign to raise funds for the charities, and to understand the work of The Grenfell Foundation.
Mike, who is based at Acomb Fire Station added “It’s really strange to be nominated for this award – a bolt out of the blue, we were just thinking of how we can have fun and raise some money – but we are really looking forward to going to the ceremony in Sunderland with our wives, it’s a huge honour.”
The pair are now eyeing up their next challenges -Mike will be running the London Marathon and Kev is taking part in an open water swimming challenge, with a four-hour swim. It’s to raise funds for The British Forces Foundation who help boost the morale of our Armed Forces personnel – something Mike and Kev appreciated while serving abroad. You can support both by clicking HERE.
For more information on the work of the Fire Fighters Charity visit HERE.