Good morning. I'm very pleased to have been invited along to your club to talk about our Charity Sponsored Walking Holiday for Education Aid. I’ll start by giving you a brief overview of what it entails. First of all let me explain what we mean by Sponsored' here. This is where people promise to donate money to the charity if you achieve your goal, in this case to walk a certain number of miles.

Basically we are organizing a ten-day holiday, from the sixth to the sixteenth of November, with eight days actual walking【Q11】, trekking in the Semira Mountains.

Let's have a look at some of the details. We require you to raise sponsorship money of at least $3,200, paying $250 of it up front as a deposit and the rest in stages throughout the year. Out of this about thirty-five per cent will go on your expenses, and that leaves sixty-five per cent【Q12】 guaranteed to go to the charity.

Which brings me to the most important part. This trek is being specifically organized to help education in the Semira region. Last year we helped train teachers for the disabled, and this year we're focusing on the pupils. Each of the walkers’ sponsorship money will go to help an inpidual special needs pupil 【Q13】in one of the mountain schools. In the second part of the talk I’ll be giving you a lot more details, but back to the basic information.

Age limits. This is the second time we have run this kind of holiday and um, on the first we even had an eighty-year old, but we found it was wise to establish limits this time. You have to be at least eighteen and the top limit is now seventy, though you need to obtain a health certificate from your doctor if you arc over sixty years old.

Now, the Semira Mountains are among the highest in the world but you mustn’t be too daunted, we will mainly be trekking in the foothills only, although there will be spectacular views even in the foothills. However, you will need to be extremely fit【Q14】 if you aren’t now and you're interested in coming with us. You have plenty of time to get into shape. You will be sleeping in tents so you must have quite a bit of equipment with you but you will be helped by Local assistants. Your bedding and so forth will be carried by them. We ask that you only walk with a small rucksack with needs for the day.【Q15】

I don’t think I’ve really said enough about the marvellous area you’ll be walking in. Let’s have a look at some of the sights you’ll be seeing. Apart from these spectacular snow-covered peaks and valleys, there are marvellous historic villages. The area has been famous for centuries for making beautiful carpets,【Q16】 although recently there has been a trend to move into weaving blankets and wood carving. The people are extremely friendly and welcoming. We deliberately keep the parties small in size to minimize disruption to people and landscape.

So you can see it's a pretty packed timetable...I hope that there are still some people interested. I will be distributing leaflets at the end where you can find out more information, but just for the moment I’ll outline the itinerary, the main high points of the holiday. Obviously, you'll start by flying out to Kishba, the capital city, on Day One. After a couple of days to acclimatize yourself, you'll start the trek on Day Three walking through the enormous Katiba Forest 【Q17】which will take the whole of the day. Day Four takes us higher up, going through the foothills past a number of villages and visiting a school for the disabled in Sohan. Then you have a rest day, that s Day Five, before going to the spectacular Kumi Temple 【Q18】with twelfth-century carvings, set in a small forest by a lake and that's Day Six, the highlight for many. We stay near there for Day Seven because then comes the hardest day, walking through very mountainous country, but culminating in a swim in the Partch Falls. This is the highest waterfall【Q19】 in the region. Day Nine is much easier, with part of the day spent in a village【Q20】 where they make some of the gorgeous red blankets. Then back down to Kishba and the journey home.