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Sir Ed Hillary Memorial Evening and Service at Windsor Castle
The Himalayan Trust UK
Presents a Charity Evening
A TRIBUTE TO SIR EDMUND HILLARY KG ONZ KBE
At the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London
7pm Thursday 3rd April 2008
(Exhibition Road entrance, doors open 6pm, bar and snacks)
- Peter Hillary will give his illustrated talk
“Growing up with Ed”
- a showing of Michael Dillon’s
prize winning film “Beyond Everest”
- chaired by George Band with thanks from Rebecca Stephens
- For full details and to buy tickets, see Events section on this website
The whole world has been shocked and saddened by the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary who died in Auckland on 11th January at the age of 88. Our Chairman, George Band, has conveyed his deep sympathy on behalf of all our trustees to Lady Hillary and the members of their family. We pledge our continued commitment and support to the work of Sir Edmund's Himalayan Trust, which he created to help improve the lives of the Sherpas and hill people of Nepal. Even more than Everest, this will remain a perpetual memorial to his life and achievements.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, has announced that there will be a State Funeral for Sir Edmund and details are being discussed with the family. It is being planned for Tuesday 22nd January at St Mary's Anglican Church next to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell, Auckland. Before that date, his casket will lie in state in the Cathedral so that people can file past and pay their respects.
As recently as 13th December, our past Chairman and Honorary Secretary, George and Mary Lowe, visited Sir Edmund at his home in Auckland and found him in good spirits. They told him that over the years donations to the Himalayan Trust UK had now exceeded £500,000. He was delighted with this news and asked that his special thanks be conveyed to all trustees and donors.
Tributes to Sir Edmund's life and work have come in from all over the world. One way to access some of these in the UK is to go the website of the British Mountaineering Council www.thebmc.co.uk where there is a link to one of New Zealand's two TV channels tvnz.co.nz. with many short video clips. One under the heading 'Close Mate..' shows George and Mary Lowe in a touching interview, another shows the Edmund Hillary School in Papakura with a plaque displaying his motto:
'Be Determined; Aim High'
On May 29th 1953 in the British Expedition led by John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Sherpa became the first men to set foot on the summit of Mount Everest. In the years that followed, Sir Edmund returned repeatedly to Nepal, and to his friends the Sherpas,
The Sherpas are some of the most friendly, generous and tough people on earth, but their lot is a hard one, living at high altitude, without most resources that we take for granted in the west.
Inspired by his admiration and respect for these people Sir Edmund created The Himalayan Trust in 1960. Since creation the work of the Trust has been based on a few simple but profound principles
- provide basic infrastructure needs that the Sherpas really want (education, health, forests, monastery repairs and response to natural disasters)
- the Sherpas themselves to eagerly contribute time and effort to the projects- this "self help" confirming the importance and relevence of the work
- the Trust to rely on voluntary workers and virtually eliminate overheads:
- the donations to be transfered direct to the projects in Nepal; no money paid to middlemen or agents.
The results of his extraordinary efforts have been both moving and immensely beneficial, and resulted in the creation of many schools, hospitals, health centres and new forests.
This website is focussed on The Himalyan Trust UK
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 "(Click to enlarge)")
 "(Click to enlarge)")