Accountants scale Everest seven times to raise £30k for children's hospital

A West Midlands accountancy firm has smashed its £100,000 fundraising target for Birmingham Children's Hospital after scaling the peak of its latest challenge – climbing the height of Everest seven times in just 24 hours.

Prime Accountants Group, which has offices in Solihull, Birmingham and Coventry, has now raised an incredible £112,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH) through a series of annual challenges.

This includes a total of £30,000 – and counting – through its latest epic challenge, Prime vs Everest.

The Prime team scaled 61,950 metres of elevation on five treadmills, running non-stop, at Touchwood Shopping Centre in Solihull from 3pm on Friday to 3pm recently.

The money raised will go to support BCH’s partnership with the BAFTA-winning charity MediCinema to build a cinema inside its hospital.

BCH says almost 20 per cent of its inpatients have to stay for up to three weeks every year, some even longer, and research has proven having access to a cinema can transform a child’s physical, mental and emotional health.

The hospital needs to raise £1 million to make the project a reality and has already raised more than £400,000 towards that total.

Kerrie Given, associate director at Prime Accountants Group, said: “To see how together everyone was, how genuine the smiles were and the dancing and laughter when we realised we'd hit £30,000 was just incredible.

“The overwhelming feeling was pride – pride in what we do, pride in what we are and pride in the Midlands.

“Many of our team brought their children along, who were there shaking their buckets and were so confident when they were talking to members of the public.

“It's great to show them that hard work and perseverance pays off – and in this case, our hard work literally paid off!

“This money is going to help families at BCH to make their stays that little bit easier, and give them special moments together. Those good memories can make everything feel better.”

Morgan Davies, managing director of Prime Accountants Group, said: “I am incredibly proud of everyone who took part. It’s our highest ever amount raised at an individual fundraiser – only eclipsed by our golden post box challenge, which took place over three months.

“There are international companies who would be proud of raising the amount we did in this challenge. It’s a magnificent achievement by everyone involved.”

Katie Harris, corporate partnerships manager at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Charity said: “The team at Prime Accountants have set themselves a mountain of a challenge but having already raised over £100,000 for our charity, we know they can do anything they put their minds to!

“We’re incredibly grateful to Prime Accountants for choosing to support our MediCinema Appeal with this challenge, which will see a new state-of-the-art cinema built inside our hospital for our sick kids.

“Their support will help us ensure our patients and families can enjoy positive experiences together away from the wards, for years to come, at no cost to them or the NHS.”

Previously, the intrepid team at Prime rowed the distance from Birmingham to Venice in 24 hours in 2023 and cycled the entire length of the Tour de France in 24 hours in 2020.

There’s still time to donate to the cause via the Prime website.