Lunchtime Meeting - 12.45pm - Speaker Dave Andrews

On his last visit to Club in April, Dave promised that his next book would be along the lines of "From Gobowen to Everest" - let's see how he had gone on?!

A recent speaker at Oswestry Rotary Club was celebrated local author Dave Andrews author of the book "The Oswestry Round" and creator of the Oswestry Round Challenge, a 33 mile circular walk centred on Oswestry as described in the book.  The first organised Oswestry Round Big Walk event took place over the 11th and 12th June 2016 when walkers were invited to attempt the route as a one or two day challenge.

The Oswestry Round project aimed to raise money for both Cancer Research UK and for the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre in Shrewsbury, where Dave was treated in 2014 and is now Oswestry Area Co-ordinator, and where Dave's wife Jane also works as a fundraiser.

Dave explained that he had wanted to give something back for his treatment which the project certainly did! By Christmas 2015 the book had sold 600 copies, raising £3,000 for the charities, with the Big Walk Challenge itself raising a further incredible £15,000!

With the unusual title "From Gobowen to Everest", Dave is now working on another book for the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund based on a diary he kept on a previous trip to Everest Base Camp.  The new book will detail Dave's journey made with a group including larger than life celebrity Brian Blessed.  In fact he got on so well with the actor that Blessed offered to write the foreword of Dave's new book when he heard that he was giving the proceeds to charity.

Dave went on to describe going to Nepal, the 5th poorest country in the world, and flying from Kathmandu in a 15-seater plane, piloted by an excellent woman pilot, which went up to 11,000 feet and landed on a tiny airstrip with a 3,000 foot drop one side if she got it wrong (she didn't...!).

It was then over to the Sherpas and yaks to help the group get to Base Camp.  Dave described how litter-strewn the route was, how much faith he had in the Sherpas and how scarily huge the yaks' horns were!

If you want to know the rest of the story you will have to buy the book when it comes out.  Watch this space...!

The Oswestry Round book is available in local shops in Oswestry. You can read more about the book and the Challenge on its website www.oswestryround.co.uk.  The 2017 Oswestry Round Challenge will be held on Saturday 10th June.