Three employees of Dover
Harbour Board are among a team of eight preparing for the Three
Peaks Challenge.

Nigel Bodell, Barbara Buczek
and Jason Ransley, along with a former port worker Phil Dunford and
Jim Gleeson, proprietor of Cullins Yard restaurant, are raising
money for the UCL Amyloidosis Research Fund.

On the weekend of August 31
they will be attempting to climb the three highest peaks in the UK,
Snowdon in Wales, Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland
– all in less than 24 hours.

All the team members are
relatives or friends of a local person suffering from amyloidosis,
a disease which is usually fatal and until quite recently most
patients died within a year or so of diagnosis.

Improvements in clinical
management now often significantly improve survival.

The UCL National Amyloidosis
Centre services the whole country and since 1999 has built
expertise which is unparalleled elsewhere in the world.

The resources provided by the
Amyloidosis Research Fund through the generosity of donors make a
major contribution to alleviating the suffering and saving the
lives of many thousands of individuals afflicted by this terrible
and hitherto incurable disease.

The specific aim of this
challenge is to raise funds towards £23,000 needed to provide the
centre with a much-needed piece of equipment called a Coverslipper
Machine that will help histologists to prepare clinical and
research slides.

Mr Bodell said: "What we’ve
taken on is daunting, but we’re determined to do what we can to
raise the profile of this horrible disease and to raise funds for
this very worthy cause".

The team will be transported
between each of the climbs in a minibus donated by the CMW Group in
Dover and will be helped by two volunteers doing the driving and
providing ground support.