Climbers With Cancer: BMC announces new grant scheme in tribute to John Ellison
- Wednesday 13th January 2016
As a tribute to longstanding BMC competitions volunteer and Climbers Against Cancer (CAC) founder John Ellison, the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) has set up a one-off grant scheme to provide five grants of £1000 for climbers and hill walkers with cancer.
As John’s family and friends gather at his funeral on 14 January, they will celebrate a man who truly made the most of his life following his terminal cancer diagnosis in 2012 – uniting the global climbing community in a colourful t-shirt clad fight against cancer and raising over £400,000 in the process.
The BMC’s Climbers With Cancer awards will be available to climbers or hill walkers who have suffered or are suffering from cancer. The idea is to provide a kick-start to help people do something they’ve always wanted to do. This could be a climbing or mountaineering objective or an equally worthy personal goal or project related to their cancer.
“John Ellison has been a massive inspiration to us all,” said Dave Turnbull, chief executive officer of the BMC. “He showcased what can be achieved with vision, dedication, determination and the strong bond of our climbing community. CAC is a remarkable legacy to leave. Despite his diagnosis, John managed to turn the situation around for the good. In the same spirit, we’ve created these awards to help climbers with cancer and to share the CAC message.”
Details of the awards are still being finalised but BMC members will be given priority and there will be focus on ‘younger’ cancer suffers (John was only 52 when he died).
The grant scheme goes live on 1 February and the application deadline is 1 March. Awards will be made by mid-March.
Please help spread the word.
HOW TO APPLY: Full application details will be available from the BMC on 1 February. We will give details when they are availble.
Visit the CAC website at www.climbersagainstcancer.org Buy an item from the shop to help fund this worthy cause or donate directly here.